h.beer 0 - 5 Celtic (378883808)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 3517 at beer sheva Arena today. Frédéric Raymond was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Claes Grundbrant and Ruedi Hirt. h.beer tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Schwartz - Rostgaard, Zerbato, Zvity - Geldern, Sándor, Rickard, Sajaia, Szyszka - Nordli, Brixen.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Celtic. The following players took the field: Rolfsson - Rosendahl, Pömpel, Kámán, Galinha - Botonjić, Šturm, Lačňák, Hauser-Larcher, Wrethling - Fuxa.

Pressing was the tactic of the day for h.beer. The wings were the focus of most of Celtic's attacks today. Players in Celtic heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. Celtic took the lead after 7 minutes making the score 0 - 1. J. Lačňák placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. H. Pömpel increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 2. Celtic increased their lead after 15 minutes when M. Wrethling broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 3, much to the home crowd's dismay. H. Botonjić dispatched a majestic long shot 25 minutes into the match, but missed the goal by a few metres. Celtic's M. Fuxa got himself booked for a foul. Unfortunately for h.beer, S. Sajaia was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. Y. Ovdati replaced him. 0 - 3 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Celtic, who controlled the ball 68 percent of the time.

After 53 minutes, Celtic's J. Šturm burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 4. By now, the players in Celtic felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Celtic were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. 68 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 5 as H. Botonjić finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. M. Rosendahl behaved like an inexperienced youth player after 80 minutes as he gave the ball away to R. Szyszka. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. h.beer's ability to press all over the field frequently paid dividends. After the ball was lifted in from the left, M. Wrethling was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 85 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Celtic had most of the ball, with 68 percent of possession.

Y. Ovdati performed admirably for h.beer. J. Sándor turned in a dismal performance, however. Celtic's best player was M. Wrethling. On the other hand, J. Lačňák's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 5.