Idah under fire
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Scotsman
9 minutes ago
- Scotsman
'Amazing' Celtic are given the sternest of warnings by Brazilian hitman
Kairat Almaty are ready to make history after their exploits in Glasgow Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Celtic have been warned they will walk into a a cauldron of noise when they arrive for next week's Champions League second leg playoff against Kairat Almaty in south-eastern Kazakhstan. Kairat blunted Brendan Rodgers' team and frustrated the expectant home crowd, as they secured a richly deserved if unexpected, 0-0 draw in the first leg of the tie on Wednesday evening. It means next week's crucial second leg will be a straight shootout of winner takes all. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Should Kairat secure the victory they need, they would become only the second Kazakh team to qualify for the Champions League, and on-loan striker Ricardinho admits the opportunity to make history for their fans will drive them on the second leg. Kairat Almaty fans enjoy the pre-game atmosphere ahead of the Champions League first leg playoff clash against Celtic on Wednesday. | SNS Group 'We needed to believe until the last moment,' said the 24-year-old. 'We worked for this. Everything is possible in football. I know Celtic is a very big club, but we are here, and it is 11 against 11. In football, anything is possible. It would make history. I have only been here a little bit of time, but if we win, I think we will make history in the country. So it is very, very important for us. We beat Slovan Bratislava last round, and it is a big thing. If we beat Celtic, it is real history. It will be a much bigger result.' Celtic will be forced to embark on a gruelling 7000-mile trip in order to reach the city located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, and Ricardinho has warned the Scottish champions they'll be no respite when they enter the field at Central Stadium in Almaty. The Brazilian forward, who is spending the season on loan from Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen, admits the atmosphere at Celtic Park is the best he has ever experienced. However, he believes the 24,000 fans that are expected to pack out Kairat's compact stadium next week will text Celtic's resilience, alongside the soaring 30C temperatures. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Celtic's Daizen Maeda looks dejected after missing a late chance. | SNS Group 'It was an amazing experience,' smiled Ricardinho. 'For me, it was a very difficult game. I don't know for you, but for me it was very hard and we made a very good job of it. I have played in a lot of Championships, but this stadium and the Champions League is the best. It is amazing. It is a very good result, but we have one more game, and Celtic is a very, very good team. We need to be careful and play the game of our lives.
Daily Record
9 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Celtic stung by soaring transfer asking price for key target but £4.5m deal edges closer
Brendan Rodgers has endured a frustrating window and Celts could be priced out of a deal for a summer target Celtic could be forced to cough up even more for summer target Jakob Breum - if they qualify for the Champions League. The Hoops have had multiple bids thrown out by Go Ahead Eagles for the playmaker, who was also the subject of interest from Dutch giants PSV. Celtic remain in the market for more creative options and could yet reignite their interest in versatile Breum - who can play as an attacking midfielder or as a left winger. Reports in the Netherlands have suggested that the Scottish champions returned to the negotiating table this week but the Herald states those claims are wide of the mark. The Parkhead club saw an initial £1.5m bid thrown out for the Denmark Under-21 starlet earlier this summer, and an improved £3m offer was also swiftly rejected. Go Ahead Eagles are standing firm on their £5m valuation of the player but would demand an additional £1m in bonus payments should Celts get past Kazakhstan minnows Kairat Almaty next Tuesday. The £40m playoff hangs in the balance after the Hoops slumped to a goalless draw at Parkhead on Wednesday night - with furious fans chanting "Sack the Board" in protest at the lack of quality transfer business. Rodgers, ideally, would like two new wingers and a main striker in the door before the September 1 deadline, as well as a left-back. However, they risk paying an inflated price tag for Breum if they secure a golden ticket to the Champions League proper, according to the Herald. Celtic are edging closer to completing the signing of long-term target Michel-Ange Balikwisha after agreeing to stump up £4.5m for the Antwerp winger. The deal, though, has been held up by complications in Balikwisha's camp. Antwerp already have a like-for-like replacement in the door after announcing the signing of Saudi wide man Marwan Al Sahafi. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
Celtic's £40m bluff is about to be called
There are one or two people in the Celtic boardroom who clearly love a good game of cards. Their poker face is about to get tested to the limit, however, and there's a real chance they've overestimated their gamble? The current Celtic squad should be good enough to negotiate one round of Champions League qualifying, from the relative security of the 'champions' path'.When Kazakh champions Kairat Almaty came out of the hat the other week, a collective grin broke out from some of a Celtic persuasion, with the odd Borat meme thrown in for good not laughing now, and neither are the players at the table. The stakes have been raised to £40m with the Uefa dealer shuffling the deck one final time. Celtic's money men could have gone 'all in' earlier in the game. Instead, they're trying to bluff their way to Europe's top table with a hand they view as good enough to might be right, but big questions remain. Why take the risk, with well over £60m sitting in the bank and a further £15m-plus in the post after the sale of Nicolas Kuhn to Como? When star striker Kyogo Furuhashi was allowed to leave at the turn of the year, why wasn't a replacement already lined up and how on earth can the club still be searching for his successor eight months later?Why has history been allowed to repeat itself? Remember Santa being booed and furious fans waving their wallets at shell-shocked directors in Celtic Park's main stand? December 2023, months after a poor transfer window, followed the second coming of Brendan Rodgers. That mini-crisis was overcome and the club appeared to go from strength to strength. The Northern Irishman delivered four trophies in two seasons, adding to clear progression in the Champions begs another awkward question: why hasn't he been offered a new contract? It speaks to much of the current recruitment inertia. Why on earth would the purse strings be loosened for a manager in the final few months of his tenure, whose players might not be to the taste of a potential incomer next summer?Is that part of the overall gamble? That even a frustrated Rodgers, who might be assessing his next managerial move, can get enough of a tune out of an already expensively assembled squad to get past the champions of Kazakhstan?Again, the powerbrokers might be right. On the one hand, you have to tip your hat at the way they've held their nerve amid pleadings from the manager and fury from some in the stands. On the other hand, was such a high-stakes gamble really necessary when, had they gone after two or three targets with real intent to deliver, they could have made the journey to the promised land far less perilous and eminently less nerve-racking?It all adds to the drama, of course. "Sack the board," some supporters shouted. A tad premature, given a win in Almaty next week gets Celtic back to Europe's top table. Celtic are betting the house that their manager has an ace up his sleeve for the return leg. With £40m worth of chips on the table, their bluff is about to be called.
