Stay Cool *

If you are going to be beaten in the Champions League, then I can think of no better player to do the damage than someone who would say this, in reference to his previous club Livorno: “We get no favours from the referees because we are Communists!”

Lucarelli's second for Shaktar Donetsk against Celtic was a cracker. Jumping away from the goal, he somehow managed to stretch his neck enough to curl his head round the ball and put it beyond the reach of Boruc (whose performance kept the score to a reasonable 2-0 to Shaktar). The Shaktar forwards embarrassed the Celtic back line with the full-backs Wilson and Naylor in particular having a torrid time.

All we can say is that it could and should have been a lot worse (particularly as the Ukrainian side had a perfectly fine goal ruled out for being offside). We are definitely not looking like a side that can make it to the knock-out stages this season. I predict we'll be in the UEFA Cup as we'll finish third in the group.

*The Mekons