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Celtic 0-3 Juventus
Valencia 1-2 Paris St-Germain
Hello, and welcome to tonight’s liveblog.
The big news is that Georgios Samaras has been ruled out through injury for Celtic tonight.
We’ll have the full team news for you very shortly.
Here are the full teams for tonight:
Celtic: Fraser Forster; Mikael Lustig, Kelvin Wilson, Efe Ambrose, Emilio Izaguirre; James Forrest; Scott Brown, Victor Wanyama, Charlie Mulgrew; Kris Commons, Gary Hooper. Subs: Zaluska, Matthews, Kayal, Ledley, Miku, Watt, Lassad.
Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Martin Caceres; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio, Federico Peluso; Alessandro Matri, Mirko Vucinic. Subs: Storari, Pogba, Padoin, Marrone, Giovinco, Anelka, Quagliarella.
These sides have, of course, met before in the Champions League. Remember this game?
YouTube credit: DeathToSulake
BREAKING: Roy Keane is no longer sporting a beard in the ITV studio. I, for one, am gutted.
We’ll have photographic evidence to follow.
Here is proof of Keane’s beardlessness. *wipes tear away*
So what do you think the outcome of tonight’s game will be?
Poll Results:
We’re underway…
Early pressure from Celtic.
Buffon parries away Wanyama’s innocuous shot unconvincingly for a corner.
It’s a surprisingly nervy-looking start from the veteran goalkeeper.
GOAL FOR JUVENTUS!
Juventus 1-0 Celtic: Matri slyly nudges Ambrose out of the way and calmly slots it past the goalkeeper thereafter, following a long ball up towards the striker (3 mins).
Celtic aren’t happy, but the referee says it’s a perfectly legitimate goal.
Marchisio almost gets his side’s second. He narrowly fails to connect properly with Peluso’s exquisite cross.
It’s been a surprisingly sluggish start from Celtic.
An Izaguirre cross is only half-cleared, and Buffon gets down well to save a powerful Commons shot.
Despite starting badly, the hosts have at least threatened on occasion.
Meanwhile, Lavezzi has put PSG 1-0 up against Juventus.
Very unfortunate! It’s another great cross from Izaguirre, and Commons just fails to judge the bounce properly and hammers it over.
Aside from the odd defensive mishap, Celtic have actually started quite well.
Great shot of the home crowd’s Clash-invoking banner (h/t Kevin Cummins).
Celtic are a fit side, but perhaps he has a point.
Brilliant effort from Commons. Lustig crosses it in and he produces a spectacular bicycle kick, guiding the effort just wide.
Celtic have actually looked the better side in the last 15 minutes, though Juve remain a considerable threat on the break.
Celtic continue to keep up the pressure, but they’re struggling to create clear-cut openings against their opponents’ rock solid defence.
They have a corner, as I type, though.
Wanyama’s header goes just over from the ensuing corner.
In the build-up to that the defender was all over Gary Hooper, but the ref chose to ignore it, somewhat predictably.
Celtic are doing extremely well to pressurise Juventus when the Italians have possession.
They are invariably forcing them into mistakes as a result.
Pastore has put PSG 2-0 up against Valencia.
That tie already looks close to being done and dusted.
HALF-TIME: CELTIC 0-1 JUVENTUS
Hear, hear.
So half-time, and Celtic have arguably been the better side in that first 45 minutes, but trail thanks to some sloppy defending.
They have enjoyed 55 per cent of the possession, and their tireless pressure has routinely forced Juve into losing the ball cheaply and in dangerous areas.
Nonetheless, the hosts haven’t been able to unlock the opposition defence and appear to be somewhat lacking in the creative department.
Therefore, a set-piece may be their best way past this impressive Juve back four.
The Italians have also occasionally looked dangerous on the break, and Celtic cannot afford to keep defending as sloppily as they did in the early parts of that first half.
Some interested spectators…
The second half has begun…
Juve are continuing to sit back at the start of this second half.
They’d undoubtedly be more than happy with a 1-0 result tonight.
The pattern of the second half isn’t much difference to the first.
Celtic are chasing Juventus down very effectively, but when they do have possession, they are using the ball particularly well.
Another familar face in the crowd tonight…
Lustig walks off rather gingerly and is replaced by the highly-rated 21-year-old Adam Mathews.
Still plenty of pressure being applied by Celtic without much reward thus far.
I’m beginning to suspect the crowd tonight consists entirely of famous people.
Ambrose heads straight at the goalkeeper from close range. That’s the best chance yet for Celtic.
Unfortunately, the defender seems to have been affected by his exhausting recent schedule.
Wilson clears a goalbound effort from Vucinic following a swift Juventus break.
Celtic are pushing more bodies forward and are looking increasingly tired, and thus, are further at risk of being exposed at the back.
Still Celtic players are being pushed and pulled all over the place at corners.
And somewhat bafflingly, the referee calmly watches on as if such behaviour is perfectly legal.
Another corner to Celtic. They deserve an equaliser on account of the enormous work-rate they’ve put in.
15 minutes remain…
GOAL FOR JUVENTUS!
Juventus 2-0 Celtic: It’s another defensive slip from Celtic.
Claudio Marchisio sprints through, as Scott Brown seems to fall asleep momentarily, and he finishes expertly to put Juve almost out of sight (76 mins).
GOAL FOR JUVENTUS!
Juventus 3-0 Celtic: Ambrose dwells on the ball and he’s robbed by Marchisio, who gives it to Vucinic to slot it home calmly (83 mins).
That’s the tie over surely, and Celtic must be regretting taking a gamble on the Nigerian defender. He has been at fault for two of the goals tonight.
We’re into stoppage time now.
It’s a much quieter Celtic Park compared with the start of this game.
Meanwhile, Ibrahimovic has conformed to his unpredictable reputation and got himself sent off for PSG tonight.
FULL-TIME: CELTIC 0-3 JUVENTUS
So 3-0 was a harsh result on Celtic ultimately, but in the end, they were taught a harsh lesson in clinical finishing following the few defensive slips they made.
Juventus were relatively efficient, especially in defence, and will now undoubtedly fancy their chances of advancing. Whether they have the type of quality to win the competition, however, remains doubtful, given that they looked ordinary enough at times this evening.
Meanwhile, questions should be asked of both the referee and UEFA on account of the numerous incidents in the area prior to corners that were blatantly ignored by all the match officials.
Right, that’s it from me.
Thanks for reading and commenting, on a night where Celtic’s Champions League dreams appear to have effectively ended.
