Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on the latest from the Scottish Premier League, March 2008

Celtic | Rangers | Aberdeen

Celtic Roundup

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Gordon Strachan said he would not put his house on Celtic reaching the Champions League quarter-finals. And it's not hard to see why. Celtic need to beat Barcelona by two clear goals in the Nou Camp on March 4. If the task were as simple as it sounds then roll on the quarters. But having lost 3-2 at home on Wednesday, Strachan's team are all but on the canvas.

Victory by the necessary margin would be not just the best single result in Celtic's European history, it would be the biggest Champions League shock ever. And the briefest perusal of Celtic's away form shows why. At home? Magnificent in the 17 games in the tournament proper since 2001: 12 wins, three draws, two defeats (both to Barcelona). Away? Fifteen defeats and one draw, in 2004 against Barca, incidentally, who only needed the draw. If anything, the proposition that, for the foreseeable future at least, the last 16 of the Champions League is the limit of Celtic's dream surely became unchallengeable by the comprehensiveness of the defeat by Barcelona in Glasgow.

Barring a kindly draw at the first knockout stage - and that remains a possibility in any given year - the prospect of Strachan's side, without the acquisition of a clutch of top-quality players, making further progress seems remote to the point of being unattainable. If the 3-2 score line in the first leg against the Catalan side hinted at a riveting contest, it told no lies. But, even for the huge Celtic support noisily willing their team to succeed, the attention was almost relentlessly forced to confront the sometimes mesmerising superiority of Frank Rijkaard's side.

Aiden McGeady was the exception in the home team, the young winger in the first half demonstrating the kind of virtuosity that would have impressed even Barcelona. That McGeady was able to reflect that: "I only remember being on the ball once in the second half," was an indicator of his team-mates' failure to provide a proper service as they became pre-occupied with the Catalan team's swarming aggression.

Having started the move that ended with the header with which Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink gave Celtic an improbable lead and supplied the delicate chip from which Barry Robson restored it before half-time, McGeady thereafter was marginalised as Barcelona stepped things up a bit.

Strachan, significantly in terms of putting Barcelona's performance into perspective, was almost nagging afterwards in dwelling on Celtic's shortcomings. Without resorting to potentially headline-making criticism, the manager nevertheless managed to convey to anyone who was paying attention that his team's collective weakness was as relevant to the outcome as the visitors' strength.

"They might have the best squad in the world, but only time will tell if they have the best team in the world," said Strachan. "When we play opposition like that, we need nine, ten of our players to be at the very top of their form. We didn't have nearly enough playing to that standard. We didn't pass the ball well, we gave it away too often and when that happens, you have to chase, you get tired and make more mistakes."

These were observations that strongly suggested Strachan was not convinced of the likelihood of Bar®a coping with the heavy artillery they will encounter later in the tournament. That they will reach the last eight seems certain. But Strachan's realistic post-match assessment made a welcome nonsense of some of the extravagant eulogising of Rijkaard's team, and of certain players in particular. Far from the "genius" Ronaldinho was said in some quarters to have exhibited, the Brazilian - facing a 19-year-old right-back, Paul Caddis, who was making his European debut - was seen only in fleeting moments, rarely imposing himself on the game as he once did.

When he was presented with the ball by Gary Caldwell's errant pass early in the second half, he could hardly have failed to pick out Thierry Henry, isolated just 15 yards away in the inside-left position. The striker, predictably, completed the move with a right-foot chip that curled into the corner. For Celtic, though, there is only the sobering realisation that they are on a ladder from which, between their present position and the next step, there are a few rungs missing. In terms of domestic form, they have been far better this month than of late but still needed to rely on a controversial Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick to get past St Mirren last weekend.

With just three minutes of the game remaining and the score line tied at 0-0 as Rangers were leading Gretna at Ibrox, Nakamura scored a trademark free-kick with St Mirren right to feel aggrieved at the softness of the award. It did, however, ensure that Celtic remain within touching distance of Rangers and the next month promises to be pivotal in the race for the title. The Ibrox side have a backlog of fixtures resulting in eight games this month while Celtic do not have one home game in March. If there are going to be slip-ups it's a fair chance they'll come now.

Rangers

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Walter Smith insists Rangers' primary objective remains the SPL title despite securing progression to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. Rangers' progression has ensured another £2m windfall into the healthy finances of the Ibrox club but as they prepare to face Werder Bremen, Smith remains certain that the Championship is his priority.

Nacho Novo's late goal against Panathinaikos in Athens saw Rangers overcome the Greek giants on away goals after the match ended in a 1-1 draw, but despite the inevitable excitement, Smith refused to budge from what was his objective at the start of the campaign.

Rangers have finished the last two years with nothing to show for their efforts and Celtic - who have won the last two titles - have won three-in-a-row only twice before in their history. "We started the season with the Scottish title our main objective and that's still the case," said Smith, whose team are in the CIS Cup final, the Scottish Cup and remain four points clear at the SPL summit. He added: "The team are doing exceptionally well to keep us in the hunt in the four competitions. We just have to keep concentrating on what we have been doing and keep doing it game by game because it is obviously working for us.

"We want to stay in all the competitions for as long as possible. Things are going well for us and I am delighted with the effort the boys are putting in. Every time they go out on the pitch they are giving their all. We are a team very much together at the moment."

While Rangers have been getting the right results, they haven't been playing with any kind of style. Well, at least until they went to Tynecastle and walloped four goals past Hearts as Celtic struggled to a nervous 2-1 win over Inverness Caley Thistle.

The comprehensiveness of that win has seen the pendulum swing back in Rangers' favour when it comes to offs for the title. However, the Ibrox manager has delivered a warning to his players as they get ready to embark on a hectic period of matches that will define their campaign. In addition to the demanding glut of SPL fixtures, there is also the Scottish Cup replay with Hibs and the CIS Cup Final against Dundee United, not to mention the small matter of a last-16 Uefa Cup showdown with Werder Bremen.

The Rangers manager said: "We'll need to play very well in this next series of games. You get to a stage of the season and look at a run of games and it's clear you need to take three points in every one if you want to win the title.

We are at that stage now. Given that this season's SPL winners could go directly into the group stages of the Champions league - depending on who are this season's Champions of Europe, this is a critical title battle with Celtic and it is a real measure of the progress Rangers have made in a year. To date they have a remarkable 17 points more after 25 SPL games than they did last season.

As Smith went on: "We started the season with the SPL title as the main objective and that is still the case. For a Rangers team to have been the number of points away from Celtic as we were, we had to try and close that gap and make a better challenge. But once you get into the campaign and reach the League Cup Final, and you're still involved in the Scottish Cup and Europe, you just want to do well in everything! The team is doing exceptionally well to keep us in the hunt in four competitions as we get to the end of February. And we want to stay in all those competitions for as long as possible. I have been delighted with the effort from the boys. Every time they go onto the pitch they are giving their all. We are a team very much together at the moment."

That unity will have to remain in place with the volume of games Rangers still have to negotiate. Smith has said all along that he feels he has a squad that can cope physically. But the mental side is another factor, with fatigue another issue. That was the suggestion after the way some Rangers players seemed to switch off in their most recent league game against Gretna when they lost two late goals.

"The fitness level of the team has been good, and I think we can handle the physical side of it," said the Rangers manager, who turned 60 this month. "Obviously if you get a lengthy injury list, then it can be a problem. But we have mostly minor things right now and most of the players who are out should be back soon. I don't know if tiredness was a factor in losing the goals we did against Gretna."

Aberdeen

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood hailed Zander Diamond as "the best player on the field" despite his side's 5-1 UEFA Cup defeat to Bayern Munich. Faced with World Cup winner Luca Toni and Germany striker Lukas Podolski, as well as his international team-mate Miroslav Klose in the second half, Diamond showed no sign of nerves.

"I thought he was fabulous," said Calderwood after his side lost their last-32 clash 7-3 on aggregate. "He has really grown up and Zander was by far the best player on the field."

The 22-year-old prevented Toni, the UEFA Cup and Bundesliga's top goal scorer, from putting his name on the score sheet with a mature and accomplished display at the back. The Italy international was withdrawn midway through the second half, and Diamond acknowledged that as a personal success. "I don't think he liked how physical I was and they took him off in the second half, which is saying something," he said.

While Toni may not go down as the best player Diamond has played against - and he accused the Italian of "lacking professionalism" in his conduct - Barry Nicholson will never forget the test Mark van Bommel gave him. The Dutchman scored the fifth goal of the game when he finally managed to wriggle away from Nicholson's close attentions in the 85th minute. "I was very impressed with Van Bommel," said Nicholson, who had earmarked his direct rival in the midfield as the one to watch on the eve of the game.

"He is one of the best players I have played against, but it is about learning. "We had a lot of young lads out there and we can all learn from a match like this. It was a great experience for the team."