Category: European Cup

Celtic Triumph To Reach Semi-Finals

Scottish club Celtic enjoyed a glory night in the European Cup as they won their quarter-final match against Red Star Belgrade from Serbia.

Although the Scottish team had home advantage for the tie, they were not the clear favourites due to their previous poor European form, plus they only scraped into this round after winning their previous match on penalties.

Celtic started the stronger of the two sides and found the net midway through the first half. They then moved to a more defensive formation as Red Star pushed forward for an equaliser. Although Celtic gave everything, they could not hold Red Star back and the Serbian team scored early in the second half.

The match could have swung either way at this point, with both teams looking nervous. With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, Celtic broke though the Red Star defensive line. Red Star chased back, but their central defender made a last-minute lunge to prevent a shot, but clipped the Celtic strikers ankle.

The Celtic player went down and the referee pointed straight to the penalty spot. Celtic duly scored the goal. Red Star did not have enough time left to mount a challenge and full time was blown. Celtic have made it through to the European Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history.

The draw for the semi-finals was made and Celtic were given the relatively easier tie, although they will be playing away at Dinamo Bucharest. The team from Romania previously knocked out Celtics arch-rivals Rangers in an earlier round of the competition.

The two stronger teams left competing- Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid – which many expected to meet in the Final, were drawn together in the other semi-final.

Both semi-final matches, which are played over a single leg, are scheduled for the end of Year 6 – Match Week 4.

European Dream Over For Liverpool

Liverpool have been knocked out of the European Cup in the quarter-finals, after a poor display at Inter Milan.

The reigning European Cup holders were hoping to continue their European success, especially after an impressive 4-0 win against Sevilla in the 1st Round, but ultimately the team came up short on the night in Italy.

It did not take Inter long to find the back of the net and then things just got worse for Liverpool. They were soon 2-0 down, as Inter went looking for revenge, after Liverpool knocked them out of the Cup last season. Liverpool’s calamitous defending continued as Inter were awarded a penalty, which they converted for their third goal.

The defeat was complete when Inter scored a fantastic 4th to make it 4-0. Despite a fight back as Liverpool attempted to restore some pride, they could not breakdown the Inter defence.

Liverpool were the last English team left in the European Cup after Nottingham Forest and Chelsea all faltered in the 1st Round.

PSG & Bayern Crash Out Of Europe

Paris Saint Germain have been knocked out of the European Cup at the quarter-final stage after a hard fought content with Atletico Madrid.

The team from France faced a tricky tie as they headed to Spain. With European Cup games only being a single-leg, both teams had to give everything on the night. Atletico took an early lead as they pushed for the win. It was only when they went 2-0 up that PSG began a fight back. After schooling one goal, PSG realised they had left it too late, as Atletico let the clock run down.

The second quarter-final put Dinamo Burcharest from Romania against German giants Bayern Munich. The Germans were favourites but faced a tricky test in the intimidating atmosphere in Burcharest. Dinamo took an early advantage but the Germans hit back to equalise. The game headed into injury time and Bayern were happy to see out the last few seconds and play extra-time. But Dinamo had one last attack up their sleeve and crashed home a winner from the edge of the area to stun the Germans.