- UEFA
- Member associations
- Women's football Domestic leagues
- UEFA Training Ground
Celtic Park - Glasgow 19/09/2012 - 20:45CET (19:45 local time)
 | 0-0 |  |
Celtic - Benfica 0-0 - 19/09/2012 - Match page - UEFA Champions League 2013
Loading....
Celtic stand firm against Benfica
Celtic FC, making their first UEFA Champions League group stage appearance in four years, kicked off their latest campaign with a goalless draw against SL Benfica.
The home side's opener to the competition proper in 2008 – against Aalborg BK – had also ended 0-0, though this particular encounter did not always seem destined to close in stalemate. Neil Lennon's side started and finished strongly but survived some scares of their own to ensure a fourth straight European Cup clean sheet at home to these particular Portuguese visitors.
Match in 5
- Celtic held to goalless draw by Benfica
- Celtic yet to win an opening group stage game
- Commons outstanding in midfield and Player Rater winner
- Benfica without a win or goal in four visits to Celtic Park
- Celtic repeat goalless 2008 opener with Aalborg BK
Reaction
We can take a lot from the clean sheet. With so many debutants in the competition, there was a lot of nervousness and I felt they coped well. Both sides were well organised, it was a tactical game.
Neil Lennon, Celtic manager
In the end it was a fair result. We created enough opportunities to win but the ball always hit someone and we could not score. It was a positive result for us.
Rodrigo, Benfica forward
Lineups
 | Celtic |  | Benfica |
| 1 | Forster (GK) | 1 | Artur (GK) |
| 2 | Matthews | 10 | Aimar (C) 57 63 |
| 3 | Izaguirre3466 | 18 | Salvio |
| 6 | Wilson | 19 | Rodrigo70 |
| 7 | Fedor | 20 | Gaitán83 |
| 8 | Brown (C)89 | 21 | Matić47 |
| 15 | Commons | 24 | Garay |
| 21 | Mulgrew | 25 | Melgarejo |
| 23 | Lustig63 | 33 | Jardel |
| 49 | Forrest | 34 | André Almeida |
| 67 | Wanyama21 | 35 | Peréz |
Substitutes | |||
| 24 | Załuska (GK) | 13 | Paulo Lopes (GK) |
| 4 | Ambrose | 7 | Óscar Cardozo63 |
| 11 | Nouioui | 8 | Bruno César7090+2 |
| 25 | Rogne63 | 9 | Nolito83 |
| 30 | Slane | 11 | Lima |
| 32 | Watt | 27 | Miguel Vítor |
| 88 | Hooper66 | 89 | André Gomes |
Coaches | |||
| Neil Lennon (NIR) | Jorge Jesus (POR) | ||
Referee | |||
| Nicola Rizzoli (ITA) | |||
Standings
Group G
| P | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Barcelona | 1 | 3 |
| 2 |  Benfica | 1 | 1 |
| 2 |  Celtic | 1 | 1 |
| 4 |  Spartak Moskva | 1 | 0 |
Legend:
- P: Played
- Pts: Points
Match statistics
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
|
Minute By Minute
- 90+2Bruno César (Benfica) is cautioned by the referee.
- 89Brown (Celtic) is cautioned by the referee.
- 83Nolito (in) - Gaitán (out) (Benfica)
- 70Bruno César (in) - Rodrigo (out) (Benfica)
Alex O'Henley, Celtic Park: A much better second-half performance from Celtic but despite their best efforts, and in particular those of Kris Commons, they are still looking for their first victory in the opening game of a Champions League campaign.