So why don't you play like that and have an atmosphere like that for more than two games a season?
It's not arrogance at all- it's just that you play in a shit league akin to the English championship week in week out and raise your game when a big boy turns up in town.
Enjoy Dundee at the weekend and finishing 4th in the CL group.
It completely escapes you that you are in the position you are in due to geographical fortune, doesn't it? Had Celtic had the same fortune to spend on their squad, we wouldn't be a "championship" team either, we'd be facing you a couple of times a season. The history speaks for itself. We are where we are. That's life, but some humility in the place of arrogance with regard to the game would be a nice start.
We did very well.
As a Celtic fan, it's the most enjoyable game I've seen in a few years, simply because we were such big underdogs when you look at the quality of the teams. We have a very decent first team for our level, but the contrast is stark. To a man, we were excellent. Left nothing in reserve, mostly covered the skill deficiencies with endeavour and weren't too shabby with the ball when we had it. We harried, hassled and stuck in, and it worked.
We were shattered by the last 20 minutes and held on admirably, without it ever really feeling like you were pummelling us, though a 4th would've come if you'd had longer.
Overall, a superb night for our club at a level we can no longer be reasonably expected to compete at. Shame the game has gone this way but that's another discussion.
There was fortune in our goals, no doubt, but there was fortune in yours too. Kolarov's shot landing at the feet of Fernandinho when it could've gone anywhere (as we saw in another Kolarov effort that's just come back into orbit), Dembele's short pass to Brown that led to Sterling's (well-taken) goal, the parry by Gordon into the path of Nolito. You could go on about most goals, but that's just football.
Of course we raise our game when at home and the "big boys" turn up, what else should be done? Given that we're aiming for 6 leagues in a row, it's fair to say we turn up when the "little guys" arrive too. No?
There's no shame in finishing 4th in this group, that's not a put down. It's an acknowledgement of the relative circumstances we find ourselves in. There's no shame in raising your game as if this is our "cup final", we played out of our skin. And, for you, there's no shame in drawing with Celtic in Glasgow. Better teams have had worse.
This kind of result and occasion will become rarer and rarer for us until something changes with the "Champion's" league, so you better believe it's going to be milked. If we have to endure the 7-0s in Barcelona, we'll bathe in the points against teams like yours that cost hundreds of millions to assemble with arguably the best manager around in charge of them.
As much as I enjoy your delicious salty tears, maybe give Celtic a little credit as opposed to being a stereotypical arrogant fan of a rich club (plenty others seem to manage ok around here, I should add). It's ok to have off days, everyone does.
Well played, good game, I'm sure you'll still go far and even more sure you'll win the league. Some team.
