The Cup Run: Europa League Round of 32 First Leg- Bhoys Will Be Bhoys

Hello, good evening, and welcome to The Cup Run! As you can tell I am having a bit of a busy evening, however I am your erstwhile writer and Glitch's representative for all those delicious cups, and I have a hell of a week ahead of me, so lets do this! Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Glitches everywhere here for your reading pleasure is The Cup Run: Europa League Round of 32!

Keep Calm & Carry On: Celtic

Please do not adjust your pc's, laptops, tablets, phones or what ever you're reading this on. Celtic won in Europe. This is not a drill. I kid you not. The end is nigh. Ok, banter aside this honestly wasn't the team I was expecting to put here. If anything I must confess I thought they might hold the dreaded Wooden Spoon, but no, Celtic are our first KCACO of the European Cup Runs. Now the thing with Celtic is given their history then maybe this shouldn't really be a surprise. First British side to lift the European Cup with The Lisbon Lions lifting the trophy in 1967, contesting the final again in 1970 and making the UEFA Cup final in 2003. Under Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon they were a side that no team were ever entirely happy to get in their Champions League group, often posing a threat of making it to the knock out stages.

However the Celtic of the last few years haven't necessarily lived up to that. Ronny Deila tenure was quite frankly underwhelming, besides a notable 3-3 draw with Inter Milan, when it came to performances and progress in Europe, never making the Champions League group stages under him. Rodgers Celtic while making the Champions League group stages two seasons in a row have provided a very weird contrast with abysmal performances (such as against Barca last season and PSG this season) being peppered by signs of promise (the two draws against Manchester City in 2016, the win over Anderlecht this season as well as the 2-1 defeat to Bayern in the group stage of this seasons tournament) which was all the more baffling after a impressive undefeated domestic season. Prior to the game I wasn't sure what would happen. Would we get the Celtic that can handle the pressure of European competition? Or the one that lost to PSG comprehensively? Tonight was a sign of promise. No fluky result necessary for The Bhoys in this tie. Celtic dominated possession, shots, corners, everything. This being without top scorer Scott Sinclair and a string of injuries to other first choice players. Celtic really should have battered Zenit, and that's no hyperbole, it's the truth. If the same Celtic turn up in St Petersburg for the second leg then I have no doubt they will see themselves safely through to the last 16. That being said if The Hoops get cocky, or fail to live up to their potential then this could easily be a fleeting moment of glory. However for now  Celtic are our Keep Calm & Carry On's.


Wooden Spoons: Nice

Ok, so the team that has inherited the Wooden Spoon I was certain would be going to Celtic are Nice. Now this might seem a random selection, but this was very much considered. Nice were 2-0 up in the first 28 minutes curtesy of a Mario Balotelli brace, however rather than focusing on keeping out Lokomotiv Moscow they kind of just relaxed, allowing Fernandes Fernandes (no that's not a typo) to pull one back for Lokomotiv. Not a great end to the first half. Then in the Second they had Coly sent off, then let Fernandes Fernandes score a second, before someone got a hatrick, and it wasn't Mario, Poor discipline and a failure to kill the game at 2-0 really cost Nice, but what really guarantees them the Wooden Spoon is this. None of the other Russian teams won their first leg ties. Two lost and one drew. That in itself seems insignificant, however when you fact that this was Lokomotiv's first competitive game for TWO MONTHS because of the Winter Break in their season then it is particularly embarrassing that Nice squandered a two goal lead two a rustier Lokomotiv. And for that reason Nice are the Wooden Spoons!


And that's been The Cup Run! Do you agree with our choices? Were Celtic truly deserving of this weeks Keep Calm and Carry On? Did Nice deserve our Wooden Spoons? Let us know in the comments below! Feel free to share it if you really think it's worth it. Also please don't forget to like our Facebook page which you can find here and subscribe to our YouTube channel here for more delicious football content, as well as news and politics if that's your thing. As always I have been Jake, you've been delightful, and this has been The Cup Run. I will see you on Monday for a FA Cup Fifth round edition of The Cup Run!