Glasgow Celtic (1) 1 McMullen 43
Villarreal (0) 0
At Princes Park, Dartford
Att. 250-ish
Entrance: £3
Programme: None issued
Mileage: 56/4,338
Match Report
Celtic v Villarreal, £3, at Dartford. Don't mind if I do!
It not going to take a Sherlock amongst you to realise that we are not exactly talking Champions League at this moment in time.
The Premier League, more of often than not criticised for its single-minded pursuit of the very last dollar, has recognised that there is a gap in the development of players between the ages of 18 and 21. In order to offer competitive football at that level, alongside the formation of the Under-21 Premier League, they have introduced the Premier League International Cup in which eight English clubs and eight European clubs are drawn into four groups of four before entering a knock-out stage with all the games, even those featuring two European sides being played in England.
This was the second game that has been hosted at Princes Park, Dartford. Unfortunately, the games are not particularly well publicised and the first, Benfica v Shalke passed me by without my knowledge of the competition’s existence.
With a 7 o’clock kick-off and my workplace just over a half-hour’s drive from Dartford, at three quid the game was far too tempting to turn away and, on the whole, it was worth braving what was a very cold evening.
If I got nothing else from the evening, then the performance of the Celtic goalkeeper, Leo Fasan, was worth the entry fee alone. Two first half saves from the Villarreal number 11 were absolutely top drawer.
On a very heavy pitch showing the wear and tear of Dartford and Greenwich Borough’s usage week in, week out it was Villarreal that made most of the early running. The Spanish side were physically bigger than Celtic and their more direct game suited the conditions.
Having survived the opening 45 minutes by virtue of the inspired keeping of Fasan and some steadfast defending, the Scots opened the scoring just prior to the break. A through ball from Charlie Mulgrew found Paul McMullen, who looked clearly offside but clinically finished into the bottom corner to the delight of the majority of the attendance. I am presuming that these are exiles based in the south, but their knowledge of these youngsters suggested that they follow Celtic far and wide.
Celtic were also forced to defend deeply for most of the second half but Villarreal ran out of ideas on how to break down resolute defending and the three points earned mean that Celtic have qualified for the knock-out stages.
Hopefully, one of the matches during those stages will be held locally offering a further opportunity to watch European football at an affordable price, something that is not associated with the Premier League too often.
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