Hamburg lose at home to lowly Moenchengladbach

Europa League opponents Hamburg lost 3-2 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday to drop down to third place in the Bundesliga.

It was the second week running that Bruno Labbadia's side have lost three goals and should provide Celtic with some hope for Thursday's match.

Anything less than a win would effectively end Celtic's interest in the group with Hamburg favourites to qualify with two of their final three matches at home.

The defeat from Borussia was the biggest shock of the day in the Bundesliga and was the first away win of the season for Moenchengladbach.

Hamburg were twice in front but were unable to retain their lead and lost out when Canadian striker Rob Friend scored his second goal in the 82nd minute in front of a crowd of 57,000.

FRUSTRATING

After the defeat Labbadia said: "We didn't play well enough as a team, it's frustrating to lose when we were twice in the lead.

"It's our first setback of the season but now we have to get ready for the game with Celtic, that is our next challenge.

"We will focus on the Celtic game throughout the week knowing that a win will put us in a great position to qualify for the next stage of the Europa League."

Celtic are certain to go into the match without Artur Boruc which hands a European debut to Lucasz Zaluska.

TESTING

The former Dundee United keeper has played in Celtic's last three matches and is looking forward to testing himself against the Germans.

He said: "It's a big game for me. Yeah, it's special for a Pole to face a German team, but it's more when the Polish national team face Germany.

"It's more that the game in Hamburg is the last chance for Celtic to play more games in Europe. I think it will be a great game.

ATMOSPHERE

"It's a big moment for me, my first game in Europe, but I think the better atmosphere is Celtic Park. I don't think the atmosphere in Hamburg will be anything special.

"I expected a better team when Hamburg came. They are one of the top teams in the Bundesliga, but managed only two shots at Celtic Park, so anything is possible in this game."

In the other fixture in Group C Raid Vienna will be looking for revenge after losing 5-1 to Hapoel in Tel Aviv.

At the weekend Rapid won 1-0 at home to SV Ried while Hapoel won their derby match with Macabbi 1-0.

Paddy preparing for the ultimate highlight

Paddy McCourt is desperate to prove that he can be a big game Celt.

Two wonder goals in four days has transformed the image of the former Derry City star from enigma to contender.

No one has ever been in any doubt about the 25-year-old's ability, a scan through YouTube quickly uncovers a catalogue of wonderful solo efforts that has left defenders chasing shadows and scratching their heads.

Until Wednesday at Falkirk the venues had all been LOI grounds with McCourt playing for Derry City or Shamrock Rovers or from last season's Celtic reserve side.

Almost as effortlessly as he slips past defenders McCourt has transformed his party pieces into the Celtic first team to leave Tony Mowbray with some major decisions to make over the next couple of games.

A fit again Aiden McGeady will stroll into the Celtic side without question. Filling the other places will be more of a dilemma with McCourt and McGinn competing with Shaun Maloney for a place giving the manager the option to play Maloney as a striker.

CENTRE STAGE

This week's matches against Rapid Vienna and Rangers will go a long way towards shaping Celtic's season with McCourt hoping to swap last season's cameo roles for centre stage.

He said: “I hope that there's more to come for me. I don't want to come in, score two goals in two games then not be seen again for six weeks.

“Without a doubt, it would be the ultimate highlight for me to play against Rangers. At the moment it's only one game at a time, my progress has been good over the last few weeks and hopefully I can kick on again.

“I watched all of the Celtic-Rangers games last season as a supporter. It was good to go and watch them but it would be nothing like pulling a shirt on and playing in one and hopefully getting the right result.

AMAZING

“Scoring my first goal at Falkirk was a dream come true. I sat up that night remembering as a young boy how I'd dream of doing that for Celtic. For it to happen was amazing.

“I hope to be playing every week but at the minute the manager has told me that there are wee things that I need to improve on.

“There's a big European game on Thursday, hopefully I can do well in that match then I can look at the game against Rangers.

“It's the managers decision, if he thinks that I'm ready to start at Ibrox then so be it. If he doesn't then I'll respect his decision, we all trust in him and hopefully he'll make the right decision.”

The frenzy of the Rapid rematch and a game against Rangers aren't for the faint hearted.

FORMULATE

Thoughts about the team to face Rangers on Sunday won't begin to formulate for the Celtic boss until his players clock in for training on Friday morning.

The emergence of McCourt and McGinn as first team contenders is a welcome boost for the squad, especially with Marc-Antoine Fortune ruled out with injury.

If the 'Derry Diego', as I was texted on Saturday afternoon, adds to his goal tally over the next two games then some exciting chapters in the Paddy McCourt story are about to begin.

Evening Herald article

Spywatch: Form guide to Rapid Vienna

Rapid Vienna came from behind last night to beat SC Magna 3-1 ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash with Celtic.

Despite the win and their impressive European form Rapid are sitting in fourth place in the Austrian League, the league that made Filip Sebo a goal machine.

Rapid have a poor record away from home this season having won just once in four league matches with two draws and a defeat.

Their only away win was last Wednesday against KSV Superfund where Andreas Dober scored the only goal of the game.

PERFORMANCES

Looking at their form this season it does seem that they keep their best performances for European matches although even that has been far from spectacular.

There's no getting away from a 3-0 win over Bundesliga leaders SV Hamburg but their previous results weren't out of the ordinary.

To reach the Europa League Rapid put out Aston Villa on away goals, we all know Martin O'Neill's attitude to the Uefa Cup/Europa League and it's fair to say that Villa have quickly got over the ko from Rapid and are safely into their favoured position lurking around seventh place in the Premiership.

Rapid had to get through three qualifying rounds to reach the Europa League which says a lot about their recent European pedigree.

In the second qualifying round they saw off the Albania side Kllaznia with an 8-0 aggregate before toiling through against APOP/ Kinyras Peyias of Cyprus on a 4-3 aggregate to face Villa in the play off.

FORTRESS

Rapid don't have much of a recent pedigree but the old fortress Celtic Park is in need of some restoration with just one win from our last six home European ties.

Barcelona, Aalborg, Manchester United, Moscow Dynamo and Arsenal have all avoided defeat at Celtic Park in the last two years with only Vilareal, who had already qualified for the Champions League losing.

Tony Mowbray gave an honest yet brutal assessment of yesterday's win at St Mirren which will be well received by supporters but probably not as welcome in the dressing room.

Everything that the Celtic manager said publicly will have been told directly to the players but in any walk of life it's not pleasing to hear public criticism from the gaffer.

Working with the same group of players Mowbray has to raise their performance levels to get victories over Rapid and Rangers to send the club into the international break on a high.

CHALLENGING

Both games will be tough and challenging but most of the players currently at Celtic have came through tougher challenges successfully in the recent past.

Two victories, even if they are in a similar style to the St Mirren match will be warmly welcomed by the support.

The feel-good factor expected after Gordon Strachan's departure hasn't yet happened even though the supporters now have a manager that they can relate to and respect.

Mowbray has to be all things to all men but a couple of victories over the next week will grant him some breathing time as he attempts to put his mark on the team after admitting after the Hapoel defeat that 'We are a million miles from where I want this club to be'.

The Rapid Red Herring

by Joe McHugh The build up to next week's game with Rapid Vienna is in danger of becoming ridiculous after the outbreak of fake outrage over Red Strip Syndrome.

Of all the things that the cheats from Austria got upto 25 years ago I'm certain that the colour of their strip was amongst the least offensive.

For the record Rapid wore blue on their night of shame at Celtic Park, around that time every second European side to face Celtic seemed to come up with a blue strip with Real Madrid and Juventus also wearing blue.

Sadly Frank McGarvey, seen scoring against Rangers at Ibrox above, seems to be getting drawn in to a phony controversy about the Rapid match. The colour of their strip or an apology for their behaviour in 1984 are totally irrelevant.

Putting a few goals past the cheating Austrians will be far more satisfying than any PR stunts.

SINISTER
Much more nasty and sinister than the colour of their shirt were the efforts of everyone at Rapid to cheat their way through the tie, so successful were they that they almost cheated their way to the trophy before Everton intervened and prevented them taking the silverware.

On Thursday night all that matters is that Rapid are beaten on the park, nothing else.

Tommy Burns and the class of 84 would no doubt approve of any Celtic win but revenge doesn't arrive 25 years later. The events of 84 are history, not forgotten or forgiven but mainly irrelevant to Thursday's match.

Despite being inconsistent in the league the Celtic side of 1984/85 was capable of almost anything on their day.

McGarvey and McClair were regular scorers, Alan McInally was emerging and a striker from Watford was about to join the club, behind them a midfield with the ability, strength and experience of MacLeod, McStay, Grant and Burns was an obvious asset.

DEMOLISHED
The Cup Winners Cup was probably that teams level. They had demolished Sporting Lisbon the previous season, beaten a useful Gent side before Rapid came along and robbed them of two years European experience.

Although it was far from a golden era of success for the club the win over Sporting and the dramatic triumphs in the 85 Scottish Cup and 86 title success will be remembered longer and fonder than most.

REACTIONS
Younger readers will find the Rapid case fascinating, taking place in a distant time before the internet and with four television channels without rolling sports news and instant reactions demanded.

How Uefa managed to uphold Rapid's appeal, giving them the replay they sought while increasing their fine for their behaviour in Glasgow is murky stuff. Even a one-off play-off would have been fairer than asking Davie Hay's side to overturn a 3-1 deficit for the second time.

From hazy memory the appeal panel consisted of three Uefa delegates, the Bulgarian equivalent of George Peat (Airdrie and Stenhousemuir) and two other such nobodies, overturning the original verdict which most Celtic fans deemed fair and reasonable with Celtic fined for the supporters behaviour while Rapid took the majority of the blame.

Over the next week all sorts of reminders and flashbacks to the events of 84 are bound to appear.

There is a curiosity amongst younger supporters as to what the hell went on and how on earth Rapid managed to cheat their way through the tie.

PROTESTING
The then Celtic board seemed typically ineffective, there was no talk of protesting or withdrawing, the replayed tie could have been taken to Aberdeen but Old Trafford offered more cash even though the gate money was split between the clubs, Uefa and Manchester United.

There were some voices calling for Celtic to withdraw in protest but they went largely unheard in the stampede to Old Trafford and 40,000 plus Celtic fans headed down the M74 in December.

Tony Mowbray has enough problems and decisions to make regarding his Celtic side without revisiting the mid-eighties.

ESSENTIAL
After the defeat to Hapoel Tel Aviv two wins over Rapid and Hamburg are essential to put Celtic in the hunt for Europa League qualification.

No doubt the cheats from Vienna and the hard of thinking will concoct up some more nonsense over the next week in an attempt to stoke up emotions before the match.

Celtic fans would do well to body swerve the sideshows and channel their support into backing the team and giving Rapid another gubbing just like they received on their last visit to Celtic Park.

Celtic 3-0 Rapid will do me nicely.

Paddy McCourt moves up a level

Falkirk 0-4 Celtic match report