Celtic v Inter: Europa League – live!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/feb/19/celtic-v-inter-europa-league-live

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9.58pm GMT21:58

FULL TIME: Celtic 3-3 Internazionale

Gordon punches the air, his second half finishing in much-better style than the first. Redemption! Guidetti has scrambled a draw, and suddenly a result at the San Siro appears less of a pipe dream! What a magnificent match! You’ll see no better in the Europa League this season. You’ll see no better in the Champions League, either, I’ll be bound. The spirit of ‘67 lives on? Aye! Damn straight.

Updated at 9.59pm GMT

9.57pm GMT21:57

90 min +5: Shaqiri is upended, 30 yards from goal, in a central position. He gets up, and curls a stunning free kick towards the top right. It’s flying in, but Gordon, at full stretch parries away! And that’s it!!!

9.56pm GMT21:56

GOAL!!! Celtic 3-3 Internazionale (Guidetti 90 min +3)

What a finish to this game! Mackay-Steven comes in from the right and feeds Henderson, on the left-hand edge of the D. Henderson sends a delicate pitching wedge over the Inter back line, diagonally to Guidetti, busting into the box down the inside-right channel. He chests down and batters a rising shot into the roof of the net! Parkhead erupts!

Updated at 10.08pm GMT

9.54pm GMT21:54

90 min +2: Inter aren’t pinning Celtic back, as such, but they’re doing enough harrying to force the home side to fanny around in their own half.

9.53pm GMT21:53

90 min +1: Henderson is booked for a wild hack on Guarin.

9.52pm GMT21:52

90 min: Guidetti rises high to head a long ball out to Mackay-Steven, down the inside-right channel. The winger nearly guides it towards the left channel for Johansen, but his pass is cut out. There will be four added minutes.

9.51pm GMT21:51

88 min: This game is petering out a bit. Celtic need to turn the temperature up. As things stand, they’ll need at least two away goals in the second leg at the San Siro.

9.50pm GMT21:50

9.49pm GMT21:49

87 min: Johansen is booked for an elbow into Medel’s back. That’s a bit harsh, it looked like a fair scrap, and accidental enough.

9.48pm GMT21:48

86 min: Ranocchia is down with cramp. The Parkhead masses aren’t particularly sympathetic to his plight. Treatment took the best part of two minutes. He’s naturally fine to continue, so hats off to the Italian doctors there.

9.46pm GMT21:46

84 min: Shaqiri has a belt from 30 yards. It’s going into the bottom-right corner, but Gordon - who sees the swerving, dipping ball late - gets down brilliantly to parry clear.

9.44pm GMT21:44

83 min: The free kick’s cleared by Inter, but Mackay-Steven is soon coming back at them. He twists and turns down the left, reaching the corner of the six-yard box, but can’t get a shot away or deliver a killer ball inside. Celtic are beginning to get a bit desperate. They really need a goal if they’re to have any chance at the San Siro, you would have thought.

9.43pm GMT21:43

81 min: Campagnaro comes straight through the back of Henderson, and is booked. Free kick for Celtic, down the left. Before they can take it, Ambrose comes on for an injured Matthews.

9.42pm GMT21:42

79 min: Kuzmanovic is replaced by

Ken

Dodo.

Updated at 9.43pm GMT

9.40pm GMT21:40

78 min: Gordon whacks a goal kick straight down the middle. Guidetti flicks a header on. Johansen very nearly breaks clear of the Inter back line. Some 1987-style route-one shapes being thrown there. Wing Commander Reep would be proud.

Updated at 9.41pm GMT

9.39pm GMT21:39

76 min: And it’s so nearly an instant impact by Celtic’s subs! Mackay-Steven lifts a ball into the Inter box from the right. Guidetti’s presence in the centre forces Ranocchia to flick a header towards the left-hand side of the box, where Henderson chests down and lumps a half-decent effort straight at Carrizo.

9.37pm GMT21:37

75 min: Changes, finally. Inter replace Icardi with Kovacic. Celtic make a double swap: Armstrong and Griffiths off, Henderson and Guidetti on.

9.37pm GMT21:37

74 min: Guarin bombs after a long ball down the left. He’s clean through! But he never quite gets the bouncing ball under control, and having stalled, allowing Celtic to regroup, his low cross inside is picked off by van Dijk.

9.35pm GMT21:35

73 min: The excellent Mackay-Steven sashays down the right and reaches the Inter box. And then the byline. His pullback’s not quite so decent, though, and is hacked clear by Juan. “It’s not that my memory is that good,” replies Matt Dony. It’s that my life is that empty. Sigh.”

9.33pm GMT21:33

72 min: Palacio races down the right and is dragged back by van Dijk, who is rightly booked. A free kick, level with the edge of the area, out on the wing. With the box loaded, Shaqiri tries to outwit Gordon by whipping a ball to the bottom-right corner. But the keeper’s behind it all the way. Gordon’s done all that’s been required of him in this second half, a fine response to the pain and misery of the first.

9.32pm GMT21:32

70 min: Corner for Inter down the right. Shaqiri takes. Gordon tries to punch clear, but can’t. His lack of contact isn’t quite as dramatic as Ranocchia’s, though. The defender attempts an overhead kick, but only disturbs a pocket of air.

9.31pm GMT21:31

68 min: Santon is booked for impeding Mackay-Steven down the right. The free kick is launched to the far post by Johansen, and is good enough that Campagnaro must turn it behind for a corner. The set piece is headed behind by Palacio. The second corner finds Brown on the edge of the box. Brown absolutely blooters a shot goalwards, but it’s going through a thicket and blocked. Wow. Celtic so close to drawing level on a couple of occasions here!

9.28pm GMT21:28

66 min: Izaguirre, deep on the left, launches a high diagonal ball into the Inter box. Johansen, level with the right-hand post, 12 yards out, guides the ball down for Griffiths, to his left. Griffiths is one on one with Carrizo! But the keeper makes himself big, and Schmeichels the ball away. What a chance! And what a save!

Updated at 9.58pm GMT

9.27pm GMT21:27

65 min: Celtic are enjoying the lion’s share of possession right now, but doing very little with it. Inter seem happy enough to sit back, let Celtic have the run of the centre circle, and hope to break upfield occasionally.

9.25pm GMT21:25

63 min: Shaqiri is getting battered from pillar to post. Biton bundles him over down the right. Guarin hoicks a long free kick into the box. Denayer clears. Celtic romp up the other end, Brown bustling down the inside-right. For a second it looks as though he might wheech into space, but Inter surround him, and the danger is gone. “Please can you forward my apologies to world memory champion Matt Dony (47 min) and let him know that I don’t think Liverpool, much like Dundee United, will be winning anything this season, or indeed any time soon,” writes Simon McMahon (entries passim). I would tell you two to get a room, but nobody else is emailing in, so.

9.24pm GMT21:24

61 min: Guarin does belt it, a daisycutter. Gordon saves well. Celtic whip up the other end, Mackay-Steven making good down the inside-left. He reaches the area, and takes a lash. Carrizo is all over his low shot. A floated chip would have done for Inter there, but it’s hardly an easy skill to execute at full pelt.

Updated at 10.00pm GMT

9.22pm GMT21:22

60 min: Inter triangulate a lot in the middle of the park. Armstrong eventually loses patience and upends Shaqiri, 35 yards from goal, level with the left-hand post. Inter load the box. Guarin might belt it, though.

9.20pm GMT21:20

58 min: Santon drops a shoulder and makes into the Celtic box down the left. Matthews extends a telescopic leg, adroitly so, because he doesn’t concede a penalty, as he so easily could. Brilliant tackle. Corner. And the set piece is another thundering waste of time.

9.19pm GMT21:19

57 min: But no goals in this half yet. What’s going on? An awful lot of pressing is what’s going on. This is high-octane stuff. It’s like lugging Shell Oil straight from the tin.

9.17pm GMT21:17

55 min: Biton, 35 yards out, decides to fire one towards the bottom left. It’s not far away, either, sending Carrizo scrambling. The keeper probably had it covered, but that’s not far away, inches wide of the left-hand post.

9.16pm GMT21:16

54 min: Shaqiri is afforded ludicrous amounts of space down the right. He meanders down the wing, cuts inside, and looks for the bottom left with a curler. It’s going in, but Gordon fingertips away. Corner, from which nothing comes.

9.14pm GMT21:14

52 min: Inter pass it around in pretty triangles as they make their way upfield from deep. This is lovely football. Eventually Medel takes a whack from 30 yards up the inside-right channel. The ball takes a wicked deflection off the back of Palacio, to the right of the D, and nearly trundles into the bottom-left corner at speed. Gordon is down quickly to parry well, and he doesn’t need to worry about dealing with any second-phase action, because Palacio was offside and the flag goes up.

9.12pm GMT21:12

49 min: Chances at either end. A lovely little flick by Biton to diddle his way past Shaqiri. He strides towards the area and lashes a shot goalwards. No danger, though. Inter break upfield, Palacio racing clear down the inside left channel with Celtic snoozing! Gordon is the hero this time, smothering the resulting shot from the edge of the area. Good luck in guessing which way this game’s going!

9.09pm GMT21:09

47 min: Shaqiri makes a nuisance of himself down the left, eventually flicking a ball into space for Santon, who reaches the byline and attempts a pull back. The ball’s whacked clear by van Dijk. “There’s something satisfyingly karmic about seeing McMahon try and jinx Celtic, especially after he spectacularly jinxed Liverpool’s title challenge last year,” writes Matt Dony. “I don’t care if it plays in to ‘long Liverpool memory’ stereotypes, I’m still bitter, McMahon. And I hope Celtic win everything. Apart from the Europa League. (But if they could knock out Inter, that’d be super.)”

9.07pm GMT21:07

And we’re off again! Celtic get the ball rolling. No changes. No change to Gordon’s coupon, either: the poor lad still looks utterly haunted as a result of making that horrendous mistake.

Palacio scores just before half time after capitalising on a save from Gordon in the box.

8.56pm GMT20:56

Half-time Italian advertisement:

Anyone else fancy doing the Lambre Twist? The two defences are already performing it.

8.54pm GMT20:54

HALF TIME: Celtic 2-3 Internazionale

What a half of football. I would style it as a half of two halves, but Gordon and Palacio have conspired to bugger that cheap observation. More of this, though, please. What a half of football! The Champions League? Pah!

8.52pm GMT20:52

45 min +1: Time for Johansen to romp down the left and whip a ball into the Inter six-yard box. Ranocchia allows it to clank between his legs, but before Griffiths can pounce, Santon hacks clear. And that’s that for the first half.

8.51pm GMT20:51

GOAL! Celtic 2-3 Internazionale (Palacio 45)

Oh Craig Gordon! A common-or-garden blooter down the middle of the park. Palacio chases after it, entering the area to the left of the D. But Gordon is out to claim. Or he should claim. At full stretch, Gordon gets his hands on the ball, but lets it slip through. All of a sudden, the keeper’s prone, and Palacio has the ball at his feet at a tight angle to the left. He rolls it into the net, and Celtic’s keeper hangs his head.

Updated at 9.25pm GMT

8.49pm GMT20:49

44 min: Izaguirre hacks away at Campagnaro’s ankle, as the full back throws some shapes down the right. He’s lucky to avoid a booking. The rain appears to be turning to sleet. This is a free kick, 12 yards from the dead-ball line, out on the right wing. Shaqiri whips the free kick up, down and towards the far post, but there’s no Inter team-mate there, and even if there was the ball was too strong.

8.47pm GMT20:47

42 min: Biton races down the middle, before spraying a pass wide right for Mackay-Steven, who attempts to shuttle a first-time pass down the channel to release Griffiths. Nearly, but not quite. Celtic are soon coming back at Inter, and there’s a game of pinball in the Inter box. Mackay-Steven sends in a piledriver from distance down the inside right. It comes off Johansen, then clanks into Medel’s chest as the Inter midfield man lies on the floor. Celtic claim handball and a penalty kick, but they’re not getting that.

8.45pm GMT20:45

40 min: It’s a lull, in so much as nothing of note is happening. But everyone’s still racing around at silly mph, snapping into tackles, closing opponents down. Celtic have certainly woken up and are pressing hard. Inter have belatedly realised they’re in a scrap now, and are responding accordingly. This is excellent entertainment.

8.43pm GMT20:43

37 min: Shaqiri is booked for a dainty dive over Izaguirre’s leg, as he ostensibly looks to make ground down the right wing. He’s not happy with the decision.

8.42pm GMT20:42

36 min: Guarin clumsily takes down Armstrong, as the Celtic midfielder looks to break towards the Inter box. This is a free kick, just to the right of the Inter D, but a couple of yards further out. Griffiths looks to curl a spectacular effort into the top left, but it’s way overcooked.

8.40pm GMT20:40

35 min: Matthews tears after a long ball down the right. Clear of the Inter back line, he nearly gets to it, but Carrizo zips out of his area to hack clear. “Ok I’m going to stop sending emails now,” lies Simon McMahon, “but not before saying that Celtic are going to thrash United three times next month. In both cups, and the league. That’s a given.”

8.39pm GMT20:39

33 min: Matthews goes on a skitter down the right, and is brought down by a panicked Palacio, tracking back. That’s a free kick near the byline, just outside the area. Johansen fires a mid-height free kick towards the far post at 348mph. Biton somehow gets on the end of it, but can only turn it wide left of goal from ten yards or so. Celtic, utterly implausibly given the way the first 20 minutes panned out, are on top here!

8.37pm GMT20:37

31 min: Sheer brilliance from Mackay-Steven, who diddles in from the right, slipping his way past two men. A one two, and he’s past another defender. Finally a stramash on the edge of the box, and he’s 12 inches or so away from getting a shot away as he breaks into the area! Inter hack clear.

8.35pm GMT20:35

30 min: I hope Simon McMahon (23 min) is OK.

8.35pm GMT20:35

29 min: Izaguirre lifts a high ball into the Celtic box from deep on the left. Griffiths gets a head to it, aiming for the top left from the edge of the area, but can’t keep the effort down. The crowd appreciate the effort, though.

8.34pm GMT20:34

28 min: Shaqiri has the ball, advancing dangerously towards the Celtic box. He thinks about shooting, but Campagnaro is in acres down the right. He feeds the ball across. Campagnaro strides into the area, but with three powder-blue shirts waiting for the cross, can only find Brown, who blooters clear. For a second, it looked like Celtic were going to undo all that good work.

8.32pm GMT20:32

27 min: Celtic and Inter, huh. Dear me!

8.32pm GMT20:32

GOAL! Celtic 2-2 Internazionale (Campagnaro og 25)

And another! What scenes here! A throw down the right. And a flick on by Matthews into the area. Griffiths challenges at the near post, but misses the ball. No matter! Armstrong is roaring in again, but though he doesn’t convert, his mere presence pressures Campagnaro into shinning the ball into the bottom right! One minute and 13 seconds between the goals, and this is on!!!

Updated at 8.54pm GMT

8.30pm GMT20:30

GOAL! Celtic 1-2 Internazionale (Armstrong 24)

And suddenly Celtic are right back into this! Matthews executes a crisp one-two with Griffiths down the right, and scoots into space. He’s clear in the area! He rips towards the touchline, pulls the ball back, and Armstrong sidefoots home from 12 yards!

Updated at 8.52pm GMT

8.29pm GMT20:29

23 min: Celtic aren’t doing much right now. But they’ve quelled Inter’s early fire at least. “St Johnstone at Tannadice on Saturday must seem like quite an attractive prospect for a couple of the Celtic players right now,” writes Dundee United’s Simon McMahon, suddenly a wee bit happier it would seem.

8.28pm GMT20:28

21 min: And this is better, too: Matthews makes off down the right and curls a cross towards the penalty spot, where Griffiths guides a soft back-flick goalwards. It’s mopped up by Inter. A little shout for a free kick a few seconds earlier, as Johansen and Ranocchia come together as the pair challenge for a long ball down the left. The referee’s not having any of it, almost certainly correctly. But it’s just as well for Inter that he’s made that decision, for if that was a foul, Ranocchia was last man, and would be off to enjoy a shower that isn’t made of rain.

8.25pm GMT20:25

19 min: Celtic attempt to get something going upfield. Izaguirre, deep down the left, lifts a long diagonal pass towards Griffiths down the other channel. The ball’s a bit too hot, and the striker’s a yard offside anyway. That’s a bit better, though. Pretty much anything would qualify as better right now.

8.23pm GMT20:23

18 min: Kuzmanovic flies a shot in from the left wing. It’s dealt with by Gordon easily enough. Inter are totally dominant.

8.22pm GMT20:22

16 min: Guarin nearly busts through the middle of Celtic’s defence with a crisp one-two, Palacio doing the spadework. Celtic really need to watch themselves here. Inter are playing magnificently, but the home side need to start pressing a bit, because the Italians have all the space in the world to do their thing.

8.21pm GMT20:21

15 min: Inter are three on two. Fortunately for Celtic, Icardi’s pass out left is to nobody in particular, and the home side breathe again. They are all over the shop.

8.20pm GMT20:20

GOAL! Celtic 0-2 Internazionale (Palacio 13)

A corner on the right. It’s swung out long for Shaqiri, to the left of the D. The Swiss winger lifts a diagonal ball back towards the right-hand post. Izaguirre takes a fresh-air swipe at his attempted clearance. Palacio suddenly has the ball at his feet, clear in the area. He batters the ball under Gordon, and Celtic are in all sorts of bother already.

Updated at 8.46pm GMT

8.18pm GMT20:18

12 min: From a throw flung in from the right, Shaqiri rolls his man on the right-hand corner of the Celtic box and belts a shot towards the bottom right. Brilliant effort, parried clear by Gordon. Great save, but ...

8.17pm GMT20:17

11 min: Celtic falling behind hasn’t affected the volume in Parkhead. If anything, the loyal (not in that sense) faithful are making even more noise. Bedlam, bedlam, bedlam. Though Celtic will be asking a lot of their fans if they keep playing like this: they afford Kuzmanovic acres of space in the middle of their own half, and the Inter man glides forward unchallenged. He eventually looks to curl one into the top right from the best part of 30 yards. Ambitious, and ultimately unsuccessful, but it’s not a bad effort, only a tad high and wide right.

8.14pm GMT20:14

8 min: A couple of decent balls by Celtic in attack. First Izaguirre hits long down the middle and nearly releases Armstrong into the area down the inside-right channel. The pass is a tad too long. Then, a couple of phases later, Armstrong makes good ground down the left and wraps his foot round a delicious cross. Griffiths nearly gets on the end of it, ten yards out in the middle, but Santon reads the danger, getting ahead of the striker to clear. A fairly hectic start, this.

8.12pm GMT20:12

6 min: Inter had been causing Celtic a bit of trouble before the goal. Campagnaro had been clattered down the right by Armstrong. Free kick for Inter, who loaded the box. Shaqiri whipped a fairly useless low ball into the box, allowing Izaguirre to hack clear. All well and good, but Celtic failed to respond when Inter came straight back at them. They’ll need to clear their heads quickly.

8.11pm GMT20:11

GOAL! Celtic 0-1 Internazionale (Shaqiri 4)

This is so simple. Kuzmanovic, down the left, loops a ball inside for Shaqiri, who makes it into the area down the channel, ahead of van Dijk. Shaqiri shoots for the bottom left, but it’s going wide. Problem for Celtic is, Gordon comes across to parry the shot, and the ball comes back to the Swiss star, who slots the rebound confidently into the now unguarded net. Inter already paying Celtic back for 1967, then.

Updated at 8.44pm GMT

8.08pm GMT20:08

3 min: Play is stopped by a rogue plastic bag. American Beauty has nothing on this.

8.07pm GMT20:07

2 min: It’s a wild night, weather wise, and there’s an atmosphere to match. Celtic waste no time in stealing the ball off Inter. They start fast. Mackay-Steven cuts in from the right and sends a daisycutter towards goal from 20 yards. Not a bad idea in these conditions. But Carrizo handles well.

8.05pm GMT20:05

And after a lusty rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the referee blows his whistle: we’re off! Inter get the ball rolling, wearing a powder-blue away kit. Celtic, as if you need to be told, sport their green-and-white hoops.

8.03pm GMT20:03

Weather report: It’s tipping down at Parkhead. Slick Stein-esque football, please, Celtic! The home fans unveil a magnificent banner: an old school telly set, the screen eventually revealing a picture of Stevie Chalmers guiding home the winning goal of the 1967 European Cup final. That’ll have taken some stitching. “So Armstrong and GMS both start; Europa League ties versus Inter at Celtic Park and the San Siro is all well and good, but it’s not exactly Partick Thistle at Tannadice, is it?” Dundee United fan Simon McMahon, there, crying into his pint, Inverness Caley Thistle disappearing off into the distance.

7.56pm GMT19:56

The atmosphere is building at Parkhead. The spirit of ‘67, as it says on the banner hanging behind the Jimmy Johnstone statue. Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld has just been on the pitch, whipping up the crowd by screaming “You are Celtic Football Club! We’re here as a family! It’s a way of life!” while spinning round and round through 3,600 degrees. Most folk would fall down in a dizzy heap, but Auld stays on his feet, steady as a rock. Hey, he’ll have had to mark Jinky in training every now and then, it’s like riding a bike.

7.29pm GMT19:29

No Kris Commons for Celtic, then. His hamstring has yet to repair itself. Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong make their European debuts for the club. As for Inter, it’s happy birthday to striker Mauro Icardi, 22. Happy birthday dear Mauro, happy birthday to yo-ooo-ooo-ooou. Meanwhile second-choice goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo has been preferred to regular number one Samir Handanovic.

7.21pm GMT19:21

The teams are in!

Celtic: Gordon, Matthews, Denayer, van Dijk, Izaguirre, Brown, Biton, Mackay-Steven, Johansen, Armstrong, Griffiths.Subs: Zaluska, Ambrose, Guidetti, Scepovic, Wakaso, McGregor, Henderson.

Internazionale: Carrizo, Santon, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus, Campagnaro, Kuzmanovic, Guarin, Medel, Shaqiri, Palacio, Icardi.Subs: Handanovic, Kovacic, Vidic, Obi, Dodo, Puscas, Hernanes.

Referee: Istvan Vad (Hungary)

7.10pm GMT19:10

So, recent form. The Celtic of 2015 aren’t Jock Stein good, or Martin O’Neill good, or even John Barnes against Aberdeen good. It’s been average stuff, on the whole, under Ronny Deila so far. But they are picking up results, and the football’s getting slowly slicker. Seven wins on the bounce, Leigh Griffiths in the goals, top of the league, and still in both cups. You can’t ask for much more. And they’re doing a damn sight better in the Scottish Premier League than Inter are in Serie A. Roberto Mancini’s side are a mundane mid-table outfit right now. They’ve lost three of their last five matches. That stat’s slightly misleading, because Inter have won their last two in convincing style, 3-0 against Palerno, 4-1 over Atalanta. And Celtic have lost their last four matches against Italian opposition. But those defeats were against Milan and Juventus, and the long and the short of it is: if you factor away penalty shoot-outs, Inter have never beaten Celtic. Ever. The Italian giants are the bookies’ favourites tonight, but this sort of thing has to count for something. Doesn’t it?

7.05pm GMT19:05

The Celtic Football Club and Internazionale Milano. Well, what a fixture steeped in history this is! But let’s not go over 1967, that beautiful tree-lined gladiatorial arena of the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon, Tommy Gemmill, Stevie Chalmers, the cavaliers trouncing the roundheads in the slaying of catenaccio, all that. Not again. Instead, let’s concentrate on the European Cup semi-final of 1972, which produced a grand total of zero goals during its 210-minute running time. Nothing much happened, and arguably the most pointless penalty ever was scored. Yes, let’s concentrate on that!

The fact that Inter were in the semis that year at all was something of a sore point.They’d been obliterated 7-1 in the first leg of their second-round tie at Borussia Mönchengladbach, but Roberto Boninsegna had been hit, maybe, by a can of Heavily Marketed Red Global Concern, a popular brand of fizzy pop, and been subbed off on 29 minutes. Inter had subsequently fallen apart, finishing the game in disarray with nine men due to a combination of injury and ill-discipline, and a large collection of balls in their net. But they raised Cain with Uefa, won the promise of a replayed away leg - the minimum recompense they demanded - and after winning their home match 4-2, secured a 0-0 draw in the Mönchengladbach rematch. Inter advanced, at the expense of the German champions and continent-wide popularity, before squeaking past Standard Liege in the quarters.

Celtic had made it to the semis in comparatively serene fashion, waltzing past Boldklubben of Copenhagen and Sliema Wanderers of Malta easily enough, then gently bodyswerving Ujpest of Budapest in the quarters. A replay of the 1967 final was on! Celtic were attempting to reach their third European Cup final in six years, and it was looking good after Billy McNeill, Jim Craig, George Connelly, Jim Brogan and Tommy Callaghan held firm in the San Siro against Inter’s attack of Boninsegna, Jair and Sandro Mazzola. A goalless draw, played in the right spirit. Celtic were the favourites to make the final in Rotterdam.

But they fell at Parkhead, and at the last hurdle. In an uninspiring second leg, Inter sat deep and soaked up all Celtic had to offer them. Which, in truth, was not much. And so, after extra time, to penalties. Mazzola scored Inter’s first. Dixie Deans, who had come on as sub for a young Kenny Dalglish, missed Celtic’s opening kick. Giacinto Facchetti, Mario Frustalupi and Sergio Pellizzaro scored for Inter. Craig, Jinky Johnstone and Pat McCluskey beat Lido Vieri. And then Jair sent Evan Williams the wrong way, and that was that. Inter had made the final. Adding insult to injury, the rules insisted that all kicks had to be taken, so despite having already been defeated, Bobby Murdoch was forced to convert. What a cruel waste of time. Meanwhile across town, Rangers were reaching the final of the Cup Winners Cup by beating the Bayern Munich of Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller. They’d win that trophy. In every way, 1972 proved to be the bizarro 1967.

It’s one apiece between Celtic and Inter in Europe, then. The Europa League Round of 32 doesn’t quite have the cachet of the latter stages of the European Cup. But it’s got cachet baby. It’s got cachet up the yin-yang. It’s on!

Kick off: 8.05pm in Glasgow, 9.05pm in Milano.