Celtic 1-0 Benfica: Binya Shame

By: JT | November 6th, 2007

It seems that Champions League matches at Celtic Park can not end this term without incident. First it was Dida and his theatrics, and now Benfica midfielder Augustin Binya’s horror tackle on Scott Brown is the key talking point from an exciting 1-0 Celtic win.

All afternoon Binya was embarrassed by Celtic’s midfield badass, and the Cameroonian finally got his revenge with an evil stamp on Brown’s leg in the 85th minute. Binya made no attempt to play the ball, even cocking his leg back before he rammed his studs into Brown’s tibia, right below the knee.

It was a bad enough challenge to begin with, but even worse when you consider that it was clearly retribution for Brown dominating him throughout the match. Of course a straight red was shown to Binya, and if Dida gets suspended for rolling around like a wounded duck, Binya should be looking at a five game suspension minimum. Brown did return quickly to the match, but had to be helped off the pitch after realizing he could not put any pressure on the leg.

For the good of the Scottish national team and Celtic’s hopes for advancement to the knockout rounds, let’s hope Brown can get back on the pitch soon, but the early signs are not promising.

***** UPDATE: Brown says he’s OK and will be back in training tomorrow. Thats great news, but we’ll see how he feels in the morning. *****

As for the match, the first twenty-five minutes were as thrilling as football gets. Benfica and Celtic signed a pre-match agreement to determine which club has the most calamitous defense in Europe, and it was a pretty close call at the end of the day despite the scoreline. Chances abounded early on, and both teams were lucky to not find themselves down four or five goals.

Aiden McGeady, who was challenging Brown and Scott McDonald for Man of the Match honors before Brown got jacked, scored the lone goal right before the half. After receiving the ball on the left flank, he cut to the middle and drove a sweet right footed shot toward goal. The ball took a deflection off Luisao, stranding the excellent Quim as Parkhead erupted.

The second half saw less frantic play, and few real chances of note. Celtic’s defense was shaky at times, but to be fair, the back four were fantastic for the last twenty minutes as Artur Boruc’s net was never seriously threatened.

In Ukraine, Milan rolled Shakhtar Donetsk for the second time in as many matches. A draw would have been a great result for the Celts, but this outcome is not too bad either. The Bhoys have Shakhtar coming to Celtic Park next, and will likely be facing a Milan squad with nothing to play for when they travel to Italy to close out the group stages. By no means will it be easy, but its in Celtic’s hands now, and that’s something to be very, very happy about.