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Red Star Belgrade 1 - Celta 0 Celta: Cavallero; Velasco, Djorovic, Cáceres, Yago, Juanfran (Tomás 72'); Karpin, Vagner (Doriva 80'), Gustavo López; McCarthy (Jesuli 67'), Catanha. 5-3-2. Goals: Celta's bad run continues, and they ended up with a lot to do in the second leg after a 1-0 loss in Belgrade against a better Red Star side. In the end the concern before the match about playing in Belgrade came to nothing, as the crowd, surrounded by an extensive police presence, were on exemplary behaviour. The hosts even took the trouble to make a presentation to one of their ex players, Goran Djorovic, who was in the Celta starting line up. Víctor Fernández changed his usual 4-2-3-1 line up for this match, bringing in an extra central defender Yago and giving more freedom to his full backs to use the wings. McCarthy came in for the injured Mostovoi playing behind Catanha on the right, and as has been the case in other European matches, Cavallero took over in goal from Pinto. With the new formation designed to suffocate Red Star's creative play, the first half was fairly incident free, with Celta attacking but not getting clear efforts at goal except for one shot from Gustavo López which Kocic was forced to save. At the other end Koskovic got free ten minutes before half time but Cavallero blocked his shot at point blank range. The only goal of the game came on the hour mark, with Drulic getting away from Djorovic in front of the defence to steer Bunjevcevic's through pass to the left of Cavallero. Jesuli came on for an out-of-position McCarthy, and he brought the best save of the night out of Kocic near the end. On the night though Red Star deserved the victory, and Celta now need to win by two clear goals in Vigo in a fortnight's time to reach the next round. This was their fourth game in a row without a win and the wheels seem to have suddenly fallen off their bandwagon. The next few games will be telling if Celta are to win anything this season. They certainly have the talent to do so. |
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