Celtic 4v0 KR Reykjavik
UEFA Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round
(2nd leg)
Tuesday 22nd July 2014
Murrayfield is the home of the Scottish Rugby Union, located in the west end of Edinburgh. Scotland played internationals in Inverleith until the SRU bought some land and built the first Murrayfield, which was opened on the 21st March 1925. During the Second World War the ground was taken over by the Royal Army Service Corps and used as a supply depot, however the armed forces sports authorities arranged two internationals between Scotland and England services each year, on a home-and-away basis.
The main stand is on the west side, being the largest end, with a much bigger bottom tier which is set further back centrally. The west stand is also further away from the pitch with a large grass area between the dugouts and the touch line. The stand also has a disabled area known as the ‘Wooden Spoon Wheelchair Terrace’ All four ends are split into two tiers with the North Stand dipping down into the corner to meet the smaller East Stand. The seats are dominantly decked out in navy blue with SRU picked out in white in the bottom tiers behind each goal.
Murrayfield has also hosted rugby league, gridiron, as well as quite a few football matches in recent years. Due to Tynecastle not meeting UEFA criteria, Hearts played three UEFA Cup ties during the 2004-05 season. Both Hearts and Hibs hosted Barcelona in pre-season friendlies in 2007 with 57,857 attending the Hearts game which was the biggest crowd in Edinburgh for 51 years.
Murrayfield has also became a major concert venue over the years with gigs by the likes of the Rolling Stones, U2, Oasis, Madonna, James Brown and earlier this year those shitee arsed ‘uckers One Direction performed to over 64,000 bairns as part of their Where We Are Stadium Tour.
I’m not a great fan of Celtic. How can I be when my Scottish football allegiance belongs to the other great Glasgow club. I am of course referring to...the Super Jags...Partick Thistle.
This Champions League qualifying tie with KR Reykjavik was really over last week, with the Hoops leaving the Icelandic capital with a one goal advantage. I couldn’t imagine the part timers having two shots on target, never mind scoring twice and this proved the case, as Fraser Forster was virtually a spectator for the evening.
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Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk helped himself to two goals in the opening twenty minutes, the first after an error from ‘keeper Stefan Magnusson allowing Mulgrew to head back across goal into his path to stab the ball home on 13 minutes. The Icelandic stopper was again at faulty seven minutes later, miss timing his punch to allow Lustig to tee up the big Dutchman for a simple header.Just before the half hour mark good wing play by Callum McGregor set up Teemu Pukki to fire home and it was Pukki who wrapped up victory with twenty minutes remaining, rounding the ‘keeper and blasting the ball into the top left hand corner. Pukki was subbed immediately after bagging his brace which didn’t go down too well with the home fans, although the backing and vocal support from the green and white army in the south-east corner was tremendous throughout.
Celtic was now face Legia Warsaw in the third qualifying round, so another chance for their supporters and like minded groundhoppers to see the Hoops at Murrayfield.
Matchday Stats
CFC 4(van Dijk 13,20 Pukki 27,71)KRR 0
Att.40,000 est. (no official figure announced...yet)
Top bloke - Virgil van Dijk (Celtic)
Admission £20 (West Stand)
Programme £2.50
52 pages(9 advertisements)
Best line
KR Reykjavik may have a starting line up compiled of part-time footballers but their squad still boasts talents that Celtic must be wary of. (Tonight's Opponents)
Foetoes (25 pictures from Murrayfield and match ticket)
I travelled on the 1454 to Edinburgh Waverley to meet Squad#155 James Little for a pub crawl route to Murrayfield, starting off with a couple of pints in the Blue Blazer. We then headed to Bennets Bar for 5.30 to meet James' pal John who had sorted out our match tickets and Squad#81 Jamie McQueen. The four of us also called to the Golden Rule and had a few pints in Diggers, where for the first time, I enjoyed the pastry delicacy of a macaroni pie.
After the game the four of us did the same route but in reverse, finally leaving Bennets at quarter to one to stagger back to James' flat, where I was staying for the night. An excellent night in Edinburgh, with special thanks to James for giving me a bed for the night, John for supplying the ticket and it was great to see Jamie, who I hadn’t seen since this beloved Liverpool beat the Toon 6-0 the season before last. Apart from the beer I enjoyed the novelty factor of watching football at Murrayfield, which is a terrific stadium and a good’un to notch up number 400.
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| Bennets Bar |
Bevvy Almanac
Blue Blazer (Spittal Street)
An Teallach Ale Co. 'Kildonan' (4.4%)****
Cairngorm 'Trade Winds' ****
Bennets Bar (Leven Street)
Barneys Beer 'Extra Pale' (4%)***+
Harviestoun ‘Bitter & Twisted’ (3.8%)***** (Re-sup)
Golden Rule (Yeoman Place)
Alechemy 'Bad Day At The Office' (4.5%)***+
Saltaire 'Le IPA' (5.6%)***+
Diggers (Admillan Terrace)
Steward Diggers 80 shilling (4.4%)****
Caledonian 'XPA' (4.3%)***+
Joseph Holts Two Hoots (4.2%)***+ (Re-sup)