Three days of European football ahead for SPL sides

By: Ian Rose | November 5th, 2007

I have to admit that my mind is beginning to wander to November 17th. Scotland v. Italy at Hampden. But before that glorious day, there’s still some European club football to worry about. Celtic, Rangers, and Aberdeen all play in Europe this week, with very different stakes. Here’s a look.

Celtic v. Benfica, Tuesday
An absolutely critical match for the Bhoys. With their dismal road record, they need to take all points they can at home. Their home win over Milan was great, but they sandwiched it between two goalless defeats on the road, and sit last in the group with three points. Benfica leads them on goals, but sits on three points as well. If Celtic lose this match, I have to say their Champions League is over, and even the UEFA Cup will take some major work to achieve. The Celts are just a different team at home, especially in Europe, and Benfica should be prepared to see a much more solid performance tomorrow. Scott McDonald is unquestionably the danger man for Celtic, but he’ll hopefully get some help from a rejuvenated Jan Vennegor of Hesselink. Prediction: 2-1 to Celtic.

Barcelona v. Rangers, Wednesday
I can almost hear Messi whining already. The brilliant Messidonna and his ridiculously talented Barca team will come straight at Rangers from the opening whistle. They played 4 strikers at Ibrox, for crap’s sake … This is a bonus match for Rangers, and another point would be a miracle, but it’s not going to happen. Prediction: 2-0 to Barca.

Aberdeen v. Locomotiv Moscow, Thursday
Damn, Aberdeen got a rough draw … Even with their domestic form improving, Dons face a big challenge from their Russian visitors. Both of these sides were questionable defensively in their last UC match, letting in three goals each, but Locomotiv was able to pull out a 3-3 draw, whereas Aberdeen got slammed 3-0 in Greece. On my UEFA Cup blog, I predicted a draw here, and I’ll stick with that, but I’m wavering. I hope the Dons can get that much. There aren’t a lot of points to be expected from this group for them, and this would be a great place to start. Prediction: 1-1.

Good luck to the Bhoys, the Gers and the Dons. Do us proud. By that I mean, Celtic: win; Aberdeen: draw; Rangers: don’t lose by too much.