BTW, has anyone esle noted that Stubbs was this world class defender up in Scotland and now at Everton he is fighting for his place.  I think that says allot about the standard up there, and we got a  real chance of winning.

Dont remember anyone up here saying he was a class player?  Good yes, but not world class.

Once he left we improved defensively, too slow.

Well for arguement sake, my opinion of our strongest team is;

            Friedel

Taylor    Berg    Short     Neill

Thompson  Dunn  Flitcroft  Duff

         Jansen   Cole

I now firmly believe looking at the two teams that we are the stronger side.

Friedel vs Hedman? I'd take Friedel any day of the week.

Its hard to compare some as you play 3 defenders and we play 4. However, I'd admittedly take Balde over Berg, but I'd definitely keep Neill over Valgaeren and Taylor over Mjally, though I admit they are very close comparisons.

Midfield wise, I'd probably had to admit Lambert is better than Flitcroft, however, There is no way in hell Healy is better than Dunn, and David Thompson is far better than Alan Thompson, and Duff is far better than Petrov. Not saying these aren't good players, but I belive ours are better.

As far as the forwards go, I'd rather have Jansen than Larsson. I know Larsson has a great record and is a class act, but Jansen is young, extremely talented, works tirelessly and has a great hunger to win. In addition, I'd choose Cole over Sutton. Both are tremendous but the effect that Cole has on all those around him when he plays sets him apart from Sutton. Every player in the team seems to raise their game when Cole plays, and its invaluable to have a natural born winner in your team like Coley.

I haven't bothered to compare Agathe and Short as it would be farily meaningless.

I admit that it will be very close and you could well win, it would hardly be a shock, however I believe, along with many others, that we have the better, more talented players. Having said that, its a team game and Celtic do have a great spirit under O'Neill. Although so do we under Souey!

So many combinations and points to consider, really could go either way. Just thought I'd attempt to clarify as to why some of us are quietly (!) confident ahead of Thursday.

Im afraid id take Mjallby and Valgaeren over any of the two defenders you mentioned.  Both are proven internationalists whereas Taylor, Neill and Johannsen are rookies whom id never even heard of before this season.  Funny how you say Balde is the one player who you rate, if I had my way he wouldnt even be in the team and can be the real weak link in our defence.

On the midfield, you cant really compare Duff and Alan Thompson as they are so different.  Duff without doubt is your best player, but defensively im sure Thompson is 100 times better.  Healy hasnt really had a chance in the Celtic XI, but yet is now becoming a regular in the Eire team, which I suppose tells you how well the midfield has been playing.  As for Petrov, I think he could be our ace in the pack, mainly coz you'll all be focusing so much on our front two that you might not notice him ghosting in from midfield.  The number of goals he gets from midfield in big games has been invaluable.

Jansen instead of Larsson.  Im not going to comment too much on that except to say ill pretty much guarantee that you wont be saying that after the 2 legs are over, regardless of outcome.  Ive never seen a player work as hard as Larsson, and thats the beauty of him, such a team player, but a brilliant individual at the same time.

Its gonna be close, but I think you'll be surprised at the quality we have in our side.

Would reckon the following team will play, not our strongest due to injuries and probably not what i'd play, but here goes anyway.........

Douglas

Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen

Agathe, Lennon, Lambert, Petrov, Thompson

Larsson, Sutton

Take your pick from Guppy, Hartson, Sylla, Healy, Fernandez, Petta as subbies.  Hedman might make second leg, but is defo not fit for tomorrow night.

For the record my strongest team if everyone was fit would be.

Hedman

Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren

Agathe, Lambert, Healy, Petrov, Thompson

Larsson & Sutton.

Im sure youll get another 100 variations of that if you asked 100 Celtic fans, but thats my choice anyway!

As a Celtic fan looking forward to tomorrows game I thought i'd have a wee look to see what the general opinion was by the Blackburn support. Couldnt quite believe that 99% of you were so confident of turning us over both home & away!

Now im not going to come on here and say we'll thump you, but how many of you have actually seen Celtic play recently?  Plus the mentions of our players are always likes of Guppy and Lennon?  What about European Champions League winner Lambert?  Golden boot winner Larsson or even Bulgarian captain Petrov?  Im sure you'll know all about these guys come 10.00pm tomorrow night!!

From our perspective, only Henning Berg is a recognisable quality defender in that back 4 of yours.  As for Flitcroft?  Whats he ever done?  

Prediction?  Home Celtic 3 - 1; Away 1-1  

Dont want to be falling out with anyone, just pointing out that it might not be as easy as you think!!!