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CHAMPION, Playoffs 2nd LEG - Home vs Celtic – If we had held onto the 4-4 tie, then we could advance with a tie today, but a narrow one-goal loss with that many goals isn’t bad. We have a chance here today. Gimenez is back from injury and is starting for us. Can we hold them off? Get that victory? Win and in. I’ll take it, at home, and with ourselves doing well. Vengeance! It’s a dish best served Transylvanian. In a corner in the 1:35 mark, Stoian lifts it, it’s headed away by their defense, Lupu leaps on it and scores kicking it while it is in the air, no getting it bounce and giving the defense time to calibrate. We have a few more pressures in the next few minutes but nothing comes of it. We injure one of their players badly and they head off in the 9th. We’ve had two great opportunities from direct, deep, balls. One from Tonelli and the other from Colombi. Can we hit them hard that way? On a powerful breakaway, Stoian finds Gimenez for goal in the 16th. The MAN IS BACK LADIES AND GENIES. In the 38th, they score back. We lightly injure another Celtic player. Etebo finds Gimenez for foal in the 40th. Lupu has a nasty drive in the 44th and finds Ivan for goal. We are up 4-1 at the half, an identical score to Celtic’s over us early in the 2nd before we clawed back a bunch. Will they do the same back to us? Don’t get complacent out there. We have two strong chances turned away. They score in the 59th. I send in Raul for Gimenez to spell him on his first start back after injury. I send in Mitrea. In the 77th, they score and now, just like last game, it’s 4-3. We force an OG from their keeper after four shots are on target in the 84th. Eckhardt heads in. Here comes a Celtic wave. We hold and win 5-3 here, MOM is Gimenez, and we ae through 9-8 aggregate. Whew!
We get some crazy Champions cash for making it to the Group Stage!
Etebo signs his new deal.
CHAMPIONS GROUP DRAW
We are seeded fourth.
I would consider this the toughest group for a 4th seed:
Group A:
Man City
Dortmund
Valenica
OM got 4th
And Group B is rough too:
Barcelona
Paris
Leverkusen
Stoke
We are in group c
Group C:
Juventus
Benfica
Sparta Prague
Sepsi
That’s not too bad all things considering. That’s not easy. But no games at this point are “easy” you have to earn these wins. Just five Eastern European teams made it to the Group Stage:
Sparta Prague
Sepsi
Galatarsaray
Shaktar
Spartak Moscow
So we are just one of five remaining heading into the Group Stage. We have a chance to do some damage, maybe.
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