In need of a topic to write about, Paul Fisher cried to his legions upon legions of Twitter followers for inspiration. There were a few ideas flying around but after Gary Linton challenged me to finish a piece with “…and that’s why the SPL is better than the Premier League and La Liga,” his mind was made up…
Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Victor Valdes and Iker Casillas are just some of the players who are dying to one day play in the Scottish Premier League. Of course, I jest. These are some of the biggest names in Spain’s top league and they have won so many awards, trophies, records and plaudits that I won’t even bother boring you with the details.
But I can make these players seem normal though, almost ordinary.
Thursday 11th March 2004. Celtic Park. Scoreline: Celtic 1-0 Barcelona. This Uefa Cup match in the round of 16 is one that sits proudly in Celtic history. Barcelona’s squad included Xavi, Iniesta, Valdes and Ronaldinho. The scalp proved all the better as Celtic’s goalkeeper had been sent off at half-time in the first leg for a brawl in the tunnel with Thiago Motta. He was replaced by rookie David Marshall, who over the next game and half, wrote himself into the history books with a string of magnificent saves to ensure the Scottish giants had their place in the quarter-final for the second year running.
The start of the next season saw the Scottish national team play Spain in Valencia. Sure, the game was cut short due to a power failure on 59 minutes and Spain weren’t the reigning World and European Champions but the 1-1 result was by no means easy. The Spanish boasted players such as Casillas, Carlos Puyol, Raul and even a young Fernando Torres. Again the Scots showed the Spanish that they were no pushovers, with a host of SPL players in their ranks including Jackie McNamara, Barry Ferguson and Craig Gordon in goal.
No Scottish team have played Real Madrid since the inception of the SPL but back in 2006 Celtic were drawn against English giants Manchester United and on the 21st of November the reds travelled to Glasgow for Matchday Five. A highly intensive game had its fair share of incident but no goals until the 80th minute when Shunsuke Nakamura stepped up to score one of his trademark free-kicks and left the green half of Glasgow praying their side could hold on and secured passage to the last-16 of the Champions League for the first time since the tournament began. They held on.
Just.
A last minute penalty was conceded by Shaun Maloney but Artur Boruc was equal to Louis Saha’s effort and the Hoops held on. Players on the wrong side of defeat that night included Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney.
Including these matches teams that have been on the wrong end of a defeat from a Scottish side include AC Milan, Lyon, Juventus, Leeds United, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Ajax, and Real Madrid.
Money differences and other factors have effected how Scottish clubs can compete in Europe but remember Glasgow Celtic were the first British team to win the European Cup in their first season in the competition in 1967. Rangers won the Cup Winners’ Cup just five years later, both sides of the Old Firm have reached the final of the UEFA Cup in the last ten years and who can forget Aberdeen’s victory in the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup. They beat Spanish giants Real Madrid in the final after extra time. Their preliminary round opponents that year have been in the spotlight this year – FC Sion who they trounced 11-1 on aggregate.
Scotland and the SPL may not be seen in the best light recently but I think this shows that deep down I am correct and that is why the SPL is better than the EPL and La Liga.
