View From The Wing- Milan 1 Celtic 0

Strange thing happened in the empty belly of the uninterested San Siro last night. The game kicked off and right away it was obvious that it was a training exercise for both teams. The game was meandering along at walking pace when an almighty roar went up from the Hoops fans.

Watching on Tv there was no flicker, no split screen sudden reaction, no appearance of the infamous Sky sports info bar, a bar which, has been the bearer of bad news on many occasions. I thought someone was having a laugh wie the hoops support. You know the type, someone shouts in the crowd that thier grannies auntie has just texted to say some team is 1-0 up...it was like Love Street 85 all over again.

Sky, eventually caught up. Benfica were doing what i thought would be impossible for them, i mean, they were wearing scarfs and tammies, and were putting the dodgy defenced Ukrainians to the sword wie reletive ease. Something we couldnae do as another 3 away games bit the dust wie a big fat zero points once again in the bag.

Fortress Parkheid, the fabled and lauded floodlite arena, which has bristled, rocked and rolled over this CL group stage and before that the rollercoaster, which was Spartak Moscow, has once again proved the fans are as important to the team as tactics, ability and heart.

From the hardest non seeded team to the top pot four team via the European Champions and old foes, now friends for life, from Lisboa. We have once again, to quote a blessed, punched above or wait and created history by becoming the most successful Scottish club in CL history through qualifying from the group stages two seasons on the trot. That might end next week mind you....

Their is not much to say aboot last nights game. Milan went up a gear in the second half, while we continued wie oor canny hold or water away performance where players who are usually reliable become bungling fools, liable to run balls oot the park, pass to the opposition or look at the ball like it's a live grenade before booting as far up the park, to nae one, as possible.

Strange thing is, it's not aboot last night and ma muted celebration. We celebrated last week after a last minute goal against a team that spent more money than both us and Benfica. Maybe last week was the moment we knew, once again, we were going to qualify. I don't know but today is a day for reflection on another successful CL campaign. One achieved on the UEFA budget.

When the draw was made, it was said on these electronic pages that apart from Milan all other teams on their day could beat each other. What the difference was, was that we had the guns, the guts and we had the spirit to beat the Champions of Europe at home.

Those extra two points, plundered in the rain, of Milan were the difference between success and the UEFA cup. Heart, is oor managers buzzword and one thing we can take from this season is we have heart and i don't think we can fault the team for effort. They may lack the technical ability of Benfica and Donestk but onet thing these teams couldnae match was the heart and spirit shown at home.

So how do we progress? While the Donestk coach can bemoan missed chances his failure to shore up a suspect defence is the real reason they are bottom of the group. A £3o million spend didnae bring much success or defensive quality.

A bit like us, as in the summer we bolstered the midfield and attack. We could have suffered, last night we had 4 centre halves on the park and were missing the talisman Nakamura. We were at the bare bones and the fact that guys like McDonald, Aiden, Mick- Donestk apart- Hartley and JiriJaro all stood up and were counted, this reflects well on them but hides the lack of planing and luck involved.

As the players, manager, fans, chairmen and tea wifey say oor away form is the worry and the only way to improve that is to buy better players. As, Doneskt prove, spending big disnny mean success, guid scouting does.

The fact that we canny keep a clean sheet away from home is problem numero uno. Problem number duex is that oor full backs have lacked the ability to carry oot the attacking and defensive duties that oor manager demands. What i would do for a Snra and a Rat. Midfield, well we canny hold onto the ball so a "regista" type midfielder, an experienced short term option maybe to allow Donati to settle, is a must if the last eight is to be reached. Up front, Hesslelink has failed to reach the bar that we bought him for so a Cardoza type could be called for.....

So we are not too far away then....

Forza

Links of interest- 101 Great Goals (both from Milan and Donestk) Stv (Interviews wie Elvis, Mick, Hartley, Skippy, John Reid and the Manager)

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