Back in the days before I worked for this newspaper - lest I be accused of using insider information and my bookies account gets suspended, profitable as it is for them - I was tipped off by a pal that a team in the lower leagues had an injury crisis.
The student loan should therefore be invested in backing their opponents, he encouraged, who were still priced up as the underdog, and a fair chunk of it duly was.
Sadly, the nine missing players included only two or three who would normally have been expected to start. The favourites duly won 2-0, and it was back to the Pot Noodles and Merrydown for me.
I was rather reminded of this painful episode from my misspent youth when the build-up to Celtic’s game against Dinamo Zagreb became dominated by stories of a ‘full blown injury crisis’ for the Croatians, who were apparently ‘in turmoil’. I don’t know if the back pages of the Croatian papers had dusted off the cracked Dinamo crest, but that was the general vibe.
Subsequently, expectations were raised that Celtic – winless away from home in the Champions League for seven years, let’s not forget – were going to roll into the ramshackle Maksimir Stadion, roll over the Dinamo under-18s or some such and leave with three points that would all-but guarantee them a place in the playoffs.
My diet and financial position may have improved – if only ever so slightly - since my pal’s tip went awry, but it seems such tall tales of half a team being in the intensive care ward are still a firm fixture.
As it turned out, Zagreb managed to field a pretty strong side, so while I can understand the Celtic fans who are disappointed with the rather drab 0-0 draw their team secured in the context of the build-up, perhaps it was a better point than Brendan Rodgers and his men are being given credit for.
The bigger picture of course is that Celtic are now four unbeaten in the Champions League since that tonking from Borussia Dortmund, and this was their second consecutive clean sheet on their travels after also shutting out an Atalanta team who scored twice against Real Madrid in Bergamo on Tuesday night.
So, they have undoubtedly tightened up and vastly improved at the back, and the way they managed the game in Zagreb hints at a development in their understanding of the level they at which they are competing.
Read more:
With a Celtic Park meeting with Young Boys up next, where three points should have the Scottish champions home and hosed, it made sense not to signal for the cavalry charge towards the end in Zagreb in case it left Celtic exposed at the other end. A movie we have seen far too often from them in such matches over the years.
You may have sensed a ‘but’ in the air, mind you, and you’d be right…but, Rodgers was correct to point out that the attacking play of his side was below par, and the fans are right to feel a little disappointed that their team didn’t manage to find a way past an opponent who – injuries, or not – were not quite on their level.
Celtic dominated the ball, but could do little with it. Any Celtic team, never mind a Rodgers one, having just one shot on target in a match is rarer than, well, a poor bookie.
After a sloppy display at the back against Hibs at the weekend, albeit Celtic still ran out 3-0 winners in the end, is there a little bit of concern just creeping in among their supporters that the team aren’t quite firing on all cylinders ahead of Sunday’s League Cup final against Rangers? And might that offer Philippe Clement and his side just a smidgeon of hope?
Maybe. A little. But even allowing for the impressive upturn in Rangers’ performances and results since Clement threw off the shackles and deployed his current four-man attack, it’s a bit of a reach. Rangers fans, on the whole, will likely be approaching the match at Hampden with as much concern as they do confidence.
Celtic, after all, are six unbeaten in the fixture, and won the first meeting between the sides this season by three goals to nil in September. They are 11 points clear of Rangers at the top of the Premiership.
As Celtic manager, Rodgers has won 15 of his 19 meetings against the Ibrox side, drawing three and losing just one. His team have scored 43 goals across those matches, and have conceded just 12.
So, can Rangers win? Yes, of course they can. On their day, they clearly pose an attacking threat, and they certainly have players who can hurt just about any team. It is telling though that in conversations with friends and colleagues ahead of the game, people are invariably speaking about Rangers’ chances in the same sort of language you might use if Celtic were – with all due respect – coming up against a Motherwell or St Mirren.
That Rangers are now being grouped in with the also-rans and attracting this sort of chat rather spells out just where the gap between the sides currently sits.
So, if all of the above happens, of course Rangers can ‘pull off a shock’. But that would be what it was.
In the face of the damning statistics outlined above though, you wouldn’t even get me betting on it.
