zen celine bronze women’s 1 cphog

Thoroughbreds test Smith and Strachan

For certain clubs, domestic form is often not even a distant relation of the level of $3k nwt celine runway silk performance they tend to produce in the Champions League. The Milan team Celtic face at Parkhead on Wednesday, for instance, are football’s equivalent of the thoroughbred whose unimpressive work on the gallops is submerged in a series of scintillating victories on the track.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side have not won Serie A since 2004 but, in the three years since, they have contested two Champions League finals and one semi-final, lifting the great trophy at Liverpool’s expense in Athens last May.

Given the recent history, it is hardly surprising that, in preparing the Scottish champions for another tilt at their celebrated opponents — the pair met in the last 16 last season — Gordon Strachan will dismiss as an irrelevance the stuttering start the Italians have made to their own league campaign.

Walter Smith will be similarly disposed towards Lyon when he takes Rangers to the Stade de Gerland on Tuesday. Now in the charge of Alain Perrin, following the departure of Gerard Houllier, the French champions have begun their league programme less formidably than usual.

But Smith has enough experience of the Champions League to know $2700 new 2017 authentic celine nano debossed luggage gray calfskin aqua trim that its leading clubs almost invariably meet the high standards $890 celine python and leather loafers shoes demanded. Lyon have not only reached the knockout phase in each of the past four years, but won their group on every occasion.

Celtic’s comprehensive 2-0 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine on Matchday 1, while Milan were opening with a 2-1 home win over Benfica, deepens the need for a productive performance in this week’s renewal of their series with Ancelotti’s team — they also collided in 2004, when Martin O’Neill was at Parkhead — in Group D.

Of those four most recent matches, three have been scoreless draws over 90 minutes, with Celtic losing only to a deadly thrust from the peerless Kaka in extra time at San Siro last season.

Strachan at least need not put in any overtime studying his rivals. The players in red-and-black will be almost as familiar to the Celtic manager as his own.

‘Milan simply don’t change — unfortunately — and we all know what they do in this tournament,’ he said. ‘There’s no point in $2500 celine nwt new 2017 mini belt handbag cloud grained calfskin bag authentic saying they’ve only won one of their $1900 celine drape front cap sleeve wrap crepe tunic blouse mini dress 36 opening five matches and that they’re ninth in the league, or whatever. The Champions league is a second home to them and it could even be their priority.

‘A club like Milan will bring players in specifically to enhance their prospects of becoming European champions.’

In fact, Milan’s probable line-up boasts an aggregate of about 700 appearances in Europe’s premier tournament, headed by the 106 of the 39-year-old Paolo Maldini. Only the full-backs, Massimo Oddo (12) and Marek Jankulovski (13), have $950 new celine us 9 played fewer than 50 times in the Champions League.

‘What Milan demand of you above all is concentration,’ said Strachan. ‘You know they’ll sit in and wait, all night $2500 celine nwt new 2017 mini belt handbag cloud grained calfskin bag authentic if they have to, before releasing somebody like Kaka at just the right moment. They are also very strong physically.

‘But, despite what some people may have been saying or writing, I’m very pleased with our form this season. There is great energy and variation and we’ve been scoring a lot of goals. I honestly believe we can score every time we go forward. Of course, the Champions League is a different level, but we’ve shown in the past that we’re pretty $1800 celine brown trench 3 good at rising to the required standard ourselves, especially at home.’

Rangers’ 2-1 victory over Stuttgart at Ibrox 11 days ago, coupled with Lyon’s 3-0 defeat in Barcelona, clearly exerts some pressure on the French champions, whose supporters have been feeling a certain unease over their form since Perrin replaced Houllier. The circumstances, if anything, have made Smith more guarded.

‘They do carry quite a threat, don’t they?’ $1350 celine meteora runway ankle boots shoes steel leather sz it 38 said Smith. ‘Over the past few years click, they’ve consistently had players who’ve been a menace to opponents. There’s [Sidney] Govou, there’s [Milan] Baros, there’s Fred, all players who have shown how dangerous they can be.

‘And, of course, there’s Juninho in midfield, who is also a serious threat when coming forward and with free-kicks. And I don’t think their supposedly poor start to the league matters. Actually, they’re not far off the leaders.

‘But with clubs like them, 0 celine bag 30 cm ruler having won their domestic championship for the past six years, there is a tendency to place even more emphasis on the Champions League.

‘They had a very difficult opening fixture — who would want to start with a trip to Nou Camp? — and they’ll certainly be up for it against us.

‘Ours is a new team, still trying to gel, and this will be a serious test for us.’