Revenge and New Rivals Mark Celtic’s Europa League Group

By: Matt | August 28th, 2009

After failing to get past Arsenal in the Champions League qualifier, Celtic will finally get another chance at an old European foe for a previous match that ended in controversy, as well as a new rival. Today’s Europa League draw saw Celtic put into group C, with H$V, Celtic BFF’s St Pauli FC’s bitter Hamburg rivals, Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Rapid Vienna, the cheating scum from the 80’s. After Rapid Vienna defeated Aston Villa yesterday, many of the older Celtic supporters were clammering for another chance at Rapid Vienna and they got their wish. For those that do not know, Celtic and Rapid Vienna met in the 1984 Cup Winners Cup knock out stage. Celtic had found itself trailing 3-1 after the first leg of the Cup Winners’ Cup fixture but should have clinched their place in the next round thanks to a commanding 3-0 performance. Goals came courtesy of club legends Brian McClair, Murdo McLeod and Tommy Burns. However, things got dicey when the goalie later appeared to kick Burns while coming for the ball, with Reinhard Kienast also sent off for a blatant swipe at the late Celtic manager. A Rapid player then went down, claiming he’d been hit by a bottle thrown by a member of the Parkhead crowd. Despite TV cameras later showing he hadn’t been struck, the overall fracas saw Uefa schedule a rematch at Old Trafford.

Celtic lost the replay 1-0, a result made worse when a fan attacked Rapid’s keeper, Herbert Feurer. Celtic were fined £17,000 and ordered to play their next home European game behind closed doors. While I don’t condone fans attacking players, I can not say I am not sympathetic with this fan after seeing his team cheated so badly. Combine that hostile situation with the fact that there are bound to be plenty of St Pauli supporters and sympathizers in the Celtic end in both Hamburg and Glasgow, and you have the recipe for some exciting matches.

Schedule:
Matchday One – Thursday – 17 Sep 2009
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC – Celtic FC

Matchday Two – Thursday – 1 Oct 2009
Celtic FC – SK Rapid Wien

Matchday Three – Thursday – 22 Oct 2009
Celtic FC – Hamburger SV

Matchday Four – Thursday – 5 Nov 2009
Hamburger SV – Celtic FC

Matchday Five – Wednesday – 2 Dec 2009
Celtic FC – Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC

Matchday Six – Thursday – 17 Dec 2009
SK Rapid Wien – Celtic FC

ALL Celtic home ties down as a 20:05GMT kick off, all away ties 19:00CET.