Champions League - Celtic claim Villarreal scalp

Eurosport - Thu, 11 Dec 10:37:00 2008

Goals from Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady gave Celtic a 2-0 home win over Villarreal in their final match of Champions League Group E.

FOOTBALL McGeady - 0

The result meant nothing to the Hoops, who finished bottom of the pool and had no prospect of coming third and qualifying for the UEFA Cup even before Aalborg held Manchester United in the other group match.

The implications for the Spanish side could be big, though, as they finish second and will therefore face a group winner in the last 16 of the competition.

Celtic took the lead 13 minutes into a bright opening that saw Thomas Hinkel save his side with a last-ditch tackle on Chile playmaker Mathias Fernandez, who almost set up Guillermo Franco a minute later.

Franco could not make contact with Fernandez's pass and the miss was a turning point in a game that the Yellow Submarine were expected to win.

On 13 minutes Scott Brown lofted a ball into the area and Shaun Maloney arrived with a header to put the hosts in front.

Edmilson should have levelled a quarter of an hour later but headed a corner over the bar and things went from bad to worse on 34 minutes when Franco was shown a straight red card for elbowing Gary Caldwell.

McGeady could have doubled the lead soon afterwards with a shot that went just wide, but he managed to get his side's second in first-half injury time after Villarreal allowed him the freedom to run through their defence and fire past Sebastian Viera.

Georgios Samaras missed a host of second-half chances to further humiliate last season's Liga runners-up while Caldwell and substitute Paul McGowan went close with late headers.

Reuters

Comment 35 - 54 of 94

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  1. poor poor haigis so easy to get going ,there would be­ more brain cells in a hagis

    From thetwotoedsloth, on Thu 11 Dec 8:05PM

  2. haig i see you are still spouting your prody mouth off­ get a life ya scummy blue nose fuckwit
    regards 1965

    From paul, on Thu 11 Dec 8:03PM

  3. roll on the 27th when class will prevail over bullyboy­ tactics. ya fenian @#$%

    From n.haig123, on Thu 11 Dec 6:01PM

  4. killcool like stevie b u are a complete joke like your­ champions league pub team. did u sing ynwa last nite­ thats if u went. @#$% u celtic youll never win away.­ your fans are animals but forgot its just rangers fans­ who cause havoc wh . u lot do no wrong. trouble is ive­ said on many occasions about your minging fans and wot­ they have done but funny didnt get a response surprise­ surprise. your team are a joke in europe cant even slip­ into the uefa cup. go back to minging ireland ya­ tarrier @#$%

    From n.haig123, on Thu 11 Dec 5:56PM

  5. Especially if his rangers shirt is only size XL! in­ actual fact, I saw a rangers top with xxxxxxl on it,­ and I thought they'd signed up another eastern­ european!!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Thu 11 Dec 5:04PM

  6. Celtic took the lead 13 minutes into a bright opening­ that saw Thomas Hinkel save his side with a last-ditch­ tackle. Strachan kept that one quiet!! Getting­ Andreas' brother into the side without registering­ him with UEFA.

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Thu 11 Dec 5:02PM

  7. Indeed steve b the thought of a bare beer bellied Ipox­ dweller running at you with a buckfast bottle would be­ a frightening experience.Mentaly scarred for life the­ likely outcome.

    From thetwotoedsloth, on Thu 11 Dec 4:38PM

  8. 47 - AND RANGERS TOO!!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Thu 11 Dec 4:20PM

  9. TwoToed - Saddam was gonnae get a wee mention, then I­ remembered that he didn't have any weapons of mass­ destruction! they all turned up in Manchester, at the­ UEFA Cup Final!! LOL!! Hail, hail!!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Thu 11 Dec 4:19PM

  10. Only thing killie are good at is being a feeder club­ like hibs.

    From Paul G CHAMPIONS, on Thu 11 Dec 3:39PM

  11. indeed stevie b your correct but youve left out three­ mordern mass murderers in the form of the bush boys and­ thatcher hell will not be full until one and all are­ their.

    From thetwotoedsloth, on Thu 11 Dec 2:40PM

  12. That was the inbred Killie locals doing that, they just­ created a conspiracy to blame Celtic :)

    From Tom, on Thu 11 Dec 1:17PM

  13. type in "Celtic pay for Killie seat damage"­ in yahoo search engine or the bbc site

    celtic fans do­ not like facts

    From Lucifer, on Thu 11 Dec 1:12PM

  14. type in "Celtic pay for Killie seat damage"­ on the bbc site

    tims don't like facts

    From Lucifer, on Thu 11 Dec 1:07PM

  15. yeh mate i agree some comments like the one steven j­ posted should be left unsaid besides its something i­ would have expected from a rangers supporter not the­ other way around

    From celtikev, on Thu 11 Dec 1:02PM

  16. lucifer [the prat] is the type of scum that is holding­ scotland back,we dont need scum like him in this­ country. why dont he go back into the sewar that he­ crawled out of...

    From GORDON M, on Thu 11 Dec 1:02PM

  17. Vandalism at Killie? is that not just the people who­ live there hanging out in the ground at night getting­ pissed and starting @#$% cause they havent got anything­ better to do? ;)

    From Tom, on Thu 11 Dec 1:00PM

  18. not a invention timmy facts, your fans are unwelcome in­ both blackburn and newcastle for the reasons i posted­ about, the 3rd vandalism at killie resulted in 1500­ destroyed seats, the toilets vandalised and the­ disabled roofing vandalised, now thems are the facts

    From Lucifer, on Thu 11 Dec 12:49PM

  19. I've taken abuse on these message boards.. I've­ also dished it out.. But, I think we should all unite­ (blue and green) to report this moron, Steven J, to­ Yahoo for views that only Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and­ Milosevic would be proud of! He makes me ashamed to be­ a celtic fan!

    From Singin' Ginger!!, on Thu 11 Dec 12:44PM

  20. now now lucy nobody likes people to invent stories to­ suit themselves .as you are clearly doing . as for­ urinating in doorways well i dont know any celtic fans­ that did this in newcastle .
    but the whole world seen­ the absolute mess you and your like left in manchester­ .also your clubs fans were told never to come back to­ barcelona for urinating and defecating in the streets­ so crawl back under your rock you racist gobshite

    From simonk, on Thu 11 Dec 11:53AM
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