Celtic FC: Here We Go Ten In A Row

Sadly I can't see any of these featuring in the Celtic side in years to come, here's to a better intake next season.

Not the best of youth intakes man but youre building something here and there is something special in the pipeline i can feel it

ScottT Shocking to see how bad it was

mgriffin2012 It is an issue as I want a mostly local side for the future...

UEFA Champions League
Parc des Princes
Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Paris Saint-Germain...1
(Di María 13)

CELTIC...1
(Dembele 49)

DESPITE a hard fought battle leading to a draw against French giants Paris Saint-Germain, Brendan Rodgers and Co. were knocked out of the Champions League earlier this evening.

Coming into the game the Hoops faced the impossible of having to comeback from four goals down. It would be especially hard as Patrick Roberts was away due to his injury and that the Parc des Princes is a hard place to play at. Well we would turn some heads.

Brendan Rodgers had the team play ultra conservative and was not looking to ease up on the pressure like in the first leg, where PSG scored all four goals in a ten minute period. This seemed to work and cause the host to work hard for the match.

Ángel Di María would get things going in the 13th minute as he scored a well placed shot to the bottom right of the net, causing a delayed reaction from goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

It would be a few minutes into the second half that another goal was scored. Moussa Dembele would finally get his wish to score against his former team. The ever present Frenchman equalized 49 minutes in with a screamer.

The goal by Dembele would be the final goal of the day and Celtic would hold on to a 1-1 draw.

As the final whistle blew, however, the great ovation from the travelling support was an indicator of the courageous performance from the Scottish champions, whose journey in Champions League will be one to remember.

The Bhoys can be proud of making it to the Round of 16 this year. With making it that far Celtic could be moved to pot 3 if we do make the group stage again. At the current time we have a coefficient just over 50 points and that gives us a huge jump next season.

In this the 50th anniversary year of the 1967 European Cup title, the Lisbon Lions will be proud of the journey this current team.

A much better result and performance clearly for the side. Hopefully you'll come back even stronger next season and potentially go even further.

Getting a draw in Paris is a huge result and youre right, the Lisbon Lions would be immensely proud, the game has changed massively since their day!

ScottT A few key signings and we can do better

mgriffin2012 I was more shocked I didn't let them score anymore lol

Now that's a performance to be proud of! To go and hold Paris Saint-Germain to a goal scoring draw at the Parc des Princes is a major achievement!

A new month of course brings about a new month of football, and certainly a new set of challenges to undertake. While many are looking for ways to salvage the season at this point, we were instead preparing for another tricky set of fixtures in March hoping to keep the unbeaten streak and treble hopes alive.

For the first time this season Celtic had many close calls and were lucky to have won the matches in the dying minutes of two games. It shows that this team is well coached and that their fitness and football IQ is the key to success.

For the second month in a row Celtic have won monthly awards;Moussa Dembele once again adds the Young Player of the Month and Player of the Month awards and Brendan Rodgers won another Manager of the month. Loanees Anthony Ralston, and Aiden Nesbitt won the Younger Player of the Month awards in the SPFL Championship and SPFL League 1.

"I am proud of how well we did in this years Champions League and I hope we can build on it next season and go farther."

Here is your spoiler free recap of March..

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The first game this month was against Inverness in the Premiership. Celtic turned in yet another fantastic attacking display, with the outcome a 3-0 result in our favor. Moussa Dembele had another game of the most high performances, with his third hat-trick in a row.

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The Bhoys take a break from league action for the Scottish Cup Quarter-Final against the Jags of Partick Thistle. It was a match that Celtic needed a miracle as we fell behind early due to a goal from Chris Erskine. In the fourty-second minute Stuart Armstrong would equalize. The home supporters would hold their breaths as it looked like they would be going to a replay. Young Jack Aitchison came through in the end as he got the game winner as stoppage time was ending.

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Celtic were in European action, afterwards, with our second game of the Champions League Round of 16 coming with a trip to Paris. Although we were eliminated in the first leg, it would have been expected that we would get blown out in Paris, with a 1-1 draw the Bhoys made sure they went out fighting. Moussa Dembele got his wish as he scored against his former club.

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The Old Firm was next. In the third meeting between the two Glasgow Rivals, it was once again all Celtic as we would win by a score of 1-0. Despite the low scoring game Celtic were the stronger side as Rangers had an interim manager at the help. Leigh Griffiths scored the only goal early on in the third minute.

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Finally, to conclude March, we were up against Dundee. With the return of Patrick Roberts, the side was definitely given a boost for thePremiershipfixture, and once again he proved his class as well as how much we really did miss him. Moussa Dembele found the net twice, as he finished off the day with a penalty in stoppage time to help us to a 2-1 victory.

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Wait, what? Am I reading this correctly? Moussa Dembele won the the Player of the Month award again?!?! yep, he won it once again with his performances there were a joy to watch over the course of the month. Starting from the first day of the month with his third straight hat-trick to the last match of the month with a late game winner, nobody can stop Moussa. He would once again win the Younf Player of the Month and Player of the Month award.

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April is the last month before the split occurs, Starting with a trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts on the 2nd, following that Celtic return home for matches against Partick Thistle on the 5th and Kilmarnock three days later on the 8th. Several days later on the 15th Celtic travel to Dingwall to face Ross County in the final match of the league before the split. April ends with a trip to Hampden to face Rangers in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final on the 23rd.

A much tougher month for sure, but you pulled through in the last few minutes to get the results you needed. The unbeaten season is looking ever possible, praying you can do it.

Big Moussa, little Moussa

Keeping hold of Moussa Dembele in the summer is going to be massive for your hopes of an even better run in the CL next year!

ScottT The fact that we are able to win in very tight situations shows that we are capable of not losing in league play

Justice Ole, Ole,Ole Moussa Dembele

mgriffin2012 Don't think it will be an issue this Summer but for the winter and then the others I will be needing to add some very big clauses like a percentage of profit and so on. I will have his minimum release clause at 40 or 50M lol

Celtic win Scottish Premiership: Brendan Rodgers' side seal sixth straight title

2 April 2017| Football

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Celtic have won a sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership title with eight games to spare after beating Hearts in a close 2-1 scoreline at Tynecastle on Sunday.

Brendan Rodgers' side needed three points against second-placed Hearts to be confirmed as champions after Dundee defeated Aberdeen on Friday.

And they did so with an own goal from John Souttar and Mouss Dembele's 25th of the Premiership.

Unbeaten Celtic have dropped just four points so far during their campaign.

"My job when I came in was to win it in the best way we possibly could," said Rodgers.

"We have had many outstanding performances, but we have only just begun because there's still an awful lot of development in this team. That's the real exciting part."

• How Celtic's title-clinching win at Tynecastle unfolded


• Match report: Hearts 1-2 Celtic


• Celtic's title triumph by numbers


• How does Celtic's title win compare with other record-breaking runs?

What's left to play for this season?

Celtic are still on course to win the domestic treble, having beaten Aberdeen in November to win the League Cup, while they face rivals Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-finals later this month.

The last time the club won all three major Scottish domestic trophies in one season was 2000-01 and the feat has only been achieved once since - when Rangers claimed a treble in 2002-03.

"The run we're on is incredible," said Rodgers in an interview with Football Focus prior to Sunday's title-clinching victory.

"In terms of the treble, we never really mention it. Obviously the supporters can dream, which is great, but we have to just think about performing and playing well."

Celtic could also became the first team to go a full 38-game Scottish Premiership campaign unbeaten.

The last time a Scottish side went a full season unbeaten was Rangers in 1898-99, while Celtic did the same the year before - but the season only lasted 18 games.


European Success

Former Liverpool boss Rodgers was appointed in May 2016 to replace Ronny Deila, who quit at the end of last season after two mixed years in charge.

Deila led Celtic to back-to-back titles but failed to deliver success in Europe, losing to Maribor and Malmo in the last round of Champions League qualifying and also finishing last in their Europa League group in 2015-16.

Rodgers' first major task was to qualify for the Champions League group stages, he would successfully do thjis with victories over; Crusaders, Rosenborg and a second leg triumph over GNK Dinamo.

Reaching the group stage Celtic was drawn a relatively easy group against Porto, Leicester City and Olympiacos. With two victories over Porto, two draws against Olympiacos and a split of a draw and loss to Leicester, Celtic advanced to the round of 16 as a second placed team in the group.

Celtic were drawn against Paris Saint-Germain. This would be the first time the two sides would meet in any competition and it was all Paris. They would beat Celtic by a 5-1 aggregate score. Celtic's big day against them in the second leg as Moussa Dembele scores giving Celtic a draw.

"We need a couple of players in order to compete at Champions League level - we had some really good performances but there is certain dynamic, power and technique we need," Rodgers told Sky Sports after Sunday's title win.

Star signings and squad improvement

A summer clearout led to forwards Carlton Cole, Anthony Stokes, Colin Kazim-Richards and Stefan Scepovic all departing Celtic Park.

Yet the club were not left short of attacking talent after the signings of Dembele from Fulham and Scott Sinclair from Aston Villa.

Dembele, 20, has scored 40 goals this season and is now one of Europe's most sought-after talents, while 20-year-old winger Sinclair has struck 12 times in all competitions.

Rodgers has also improved the fortunes of players he inherited, most notably 25-year-old central midfielder Stuart Armstrong, who has impressed since becoming a regular starter after October, making his Scotland debut in November.

• Read more: Tom English on the Rodgers effect at Celtic

'Rodgers has worked wonders' - pundits on Celtic's season

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton: "People can knock the Scottish league as much as they like, but at the start of the season, Rangers thought they could push Celtic.

"Brendan has done nothing wrong - unbeaten in the league, relative success in Europe given that the last manager was really poor and they had no right to get in the Champions League. I didn't think they'd get in the Europa League.

"He has worked wonders this season and should get credit for that.

"The pressure for Rodgers was going to come in the early part of the season, because the Celtic fans expected this season and expectation was high.

"He's totally transformed the playing personnel, made good signings and the team is a million times better."

Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner: "Celtic will buy one or two more players and they can attract quality since they are in the Champions League.

"They did it in style. Their finishing was magnificent against Hearts - once they settled into this game, there was no chance of Hearts winning it.

"The way Celtic have gone about their business from day one has been exceptional. It's been a joy to watch them this season."

Will Rodgers move on?

Rodgers has been suggested as a possible replacement for Arsene Wenger should the Arsenal boss decide to leave at the end of the season.

The Northern Irishman himself has said he wants to "give more years" to Celtic and is a supporter of what he calls "one of the most iconic clubs in the world".

But could Rodgers make a return to the Premier League?

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann: "Brendan Rodgers has got more chance and justification to get a big job now then he did at the time when he went to Liverpool.

"To go a whole season unbeaten, which they can still do, to get in the Champions League against all the odds and give Manchester City a game - of course they had a heavy defeat to Barcelona but it's happened to others.

"If you look at that Arsenal job, Rodgers could be one of the first names on the list."

Sunday Times football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft: "Rodgers is still in the rebuilding phase of his career.

"I'm a fan of his in general, but this will be his first league title and he only just won his first trophy in November, so he's quite a long way away from being the man to succeed Arsene Wenger.

"He got quite sensitive towards the end of his time with Liverpool, towards how things were covered - he was banning the press.

"If he wants another big job, he's going to have to handle that properly."

A stroll in the park for Celtic in the end! What's the objective for next season, win the league after one game?