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SirStanleyBowles- 10-02-2009
Celtic 1 - 1 Rapid Vienna
Celtic had to settle for a point as they failed to gain revenge over Rapid Vienna in Europa League Group C. The Austrians took a third-minute lead when Nikica Jelavic pounced on slack defending to fire into the far corner. Celtic replied after 21 minutes when Scott McDonald made Rapid pay for a poor pass with a similar finish. McDonald had an effort cleared off the line as Celtic failed to record a win over the side to whom they lost an infamous and well-publicised 1984 tie. Combined with Hamburg's 4-2 win over Hapoel Tel-Aviv, it meant that Celtic sit bottom of the table with one point having lost in Israel, while Rapid remain unbeaten in the group after their opening 3-0 win at home to the Germans. The pre-match atmosphere had been electric, with the home support unfurling banners berating Rapid, saying they had not been forgiven for "cheating" their way to victory in that previous European Cup-Winners' Cup meeting between the sides. Celtic's 3-0 second-leg win was ruled out after a Rapid player claimed he had been hit by a missile and the visitors this time wore a red strip in celebration of the one they donned in winning the replay ordered by Uefa. But the home support's fervour was dampened when Jelavic took advantage of a slack start to the game by Celtic. Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus had been restored as the Glasgow side's central defensive partnership, with Glenn Loovens dropping out, and the club captain was at fault for the goal. McManus' attempted pass upfield struck a Rapid player and the Scotland international was then slow to file back and mark the Croat as he fired the ball into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box. Celtic looked shell-shocked and Rapid were keeping Aiden McGeady, who had been passed fit to return to the wing, under tight control. But they were given a lifeline when Ragnvald Soma hesitated when going for a poor Andreas Dober pass, McDonald nipped the ball away from the defender's toes and fired a low drive from a difficult angle into the far corner from the edge of the box. Celtic were suddenly a different team, with Landry N'Guemo and Scott Brown dominating central midfield and the movement of strikers Georgios Samaras and McDonald causing problems for the Austrians. Nikica Jelavic celebrates his early goal Jelavic silenced the crowd by scoring after only three minutes However, it was Rapid who forced the only other save of the first half, Artur Boruc tipping over a long-range effort from Stefan Hoffmann that was destined to strike the crossbar. Celtic ought to have taken the lead immediately after the break when N'Guemo's through ball fell for Shaun Maloney one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but the winger fired against onrushing goalkeeper Helge Payer and McDonald's low drive from rebound was cleared off the line by Soma. Danny Fox forced Payer into a fine one-handed save with a curling effort from 22 yards and another chance was squandered after the second of two resulting corners. McGeady fired the ball low into the six-yard box and Caldwell could only turn the ball a couple of yards wide with his first-time effort. Celtic were almost caught out twice by Rapid on the break. Branko Boskovic found space behind the defence but fired straight at Boruc then Caldwell looked to have pulled down Jelavic. However, referee Bruno Miguel Duarte Paixao possibly decided not to award the penalty because he himself helped set up the chance with an inadvertent deflection. Jelavic went close with a header, while Caldwell powered an effort well over the crossbar as the game petered out into a rather tame draw.