THE good news for Celtic as they seek a first Champions League away win tonight as that Aalborg are not the side they were when they got a draw at Parkhead. The bad news is that they may well be a better one.
The Danish champions rode their luck in Glasgow, and owed the point they earned to Zaza, their goalkeeper, who saved a first-half penalty from Barry Robson. That result was a good start to their first ever participation in the Champions League proper
, but it was one of the few positives in the first few months of the season.
After winning the SAS Ligaen last season, Aalborg underwent a slump domestically, and sat second bottom after ten games, having won only two. Having at first announced they would not renew Bruce Rioch's six-month contract when it ran out at the end of the year, the club's board of directors then resolved that they could not wait that long, and sacked the former Scotland captain on 23 October, just after their 6-3 away defeat by Villarreal.
"Qualification for the Champions League was a success, but we have to say that our results in SAS Ligaen have not been satisfactory," the club's sporting director, Lynge Jakobsen, announced. "We have decided to stop now because we are no longer in agreement with Bruce Rioch about what is the best way to get satisfactory results in the coming weeks."
Rioch, who was previously in charge of Odense, only moved to Aalborg in June after Erik Hamren, who had led the club to the Danish championship, joined Rosenborg. The Anglo-Scot's main task was to take his new club into the Champions League via the qualifying rounds, and he achieved it in relative comfort as they defeated first Modrica and then Kaunas, who had earlier beaten Rangers.
But, in addition to poor domestic results, Rioch's relations with his employers worsened after he refused to implement their desired policy of giving young players early first-team exposure. Allan Kuhn, Rioch's assistant, was appointed head coach, and since then the team have stood their form on its head.
With a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford having been suffered in between the draw in Glasgow and the heavy loss in Spain, Aalborg had only one point in Group E. At the start of this month, however, they managed to get a 2-2 draw at home to their Spanish rivals – a potentially crucial point given Celtic's draw the same evening with Manchester United.
As they are now level on points with the Scottish champions, Aalborg can ensure themselves of a Uefa Cup place with any sort of win tonight. They would then have five points, and even if Celtic matched that total by winning their last fixture while Aalborg lost, the head-to-head results would put the Danes through.
And, rather than being an isolated good performance, that draw in Europe against Villarreal has been followed by some much-improved form in both the Danish Cup, where they defeated Nordsjaelland, and in the league. A goalless draw with Brondby was followed by a 2-1 win against Esbjerg. Then, last weekend, they won 3-0 away to Vejle and are now up to seventh, six points clear of the relegation zone.
Of course, Celtic would normally fancy their chances against any team ranked no better than seventh best in Denmark, but the point is that Aalborg have at least halted their slump, and are in a far better frame of mind than they were a month ago.
Provided they maintain their current league form their position in the top flight will not be under threat, but they have probably lost too much ground to put up a real fight to hold on to their title.
Tonight's match, then, can be approached as a cup-tie, one they know they have to win to have anything meaningful left of their season.
Aalborg skipper Thomas Augustinussen, stressing that the Danish side had improved since the 0-0 draw in Glasgow in the first game of Group E, has pinpointed Celtic's defence as their weak spot.
He said: "Celtic are strong but we are strong too and we are a better team now than we met them in the first game in Glasgow. The last time we were okay so I have a lot of confidence for this game. We are a better team, we are better organised with a better defence.
"We believe so much in ourselves now and believe that we can beat every team we meet. If we do our jobs, like we did against Villarreal here and when we played in Scotland, then we have a good chance."
The full article contains 799 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
