Celtic return to the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium tomorrow night with the venue bringing back unpleasant memories for fans of a certain vintage.
Fresh from the UEFA Cup Final in Seville Martin O’Neill had an experienced squad freshened up by the exciting arrival of Liam Miller.
Bayern Munich and Lyon made up the group giving a sense of Deja Vu to tomorrow’s match but the group campaign hinged on the back-to-back clashes with the Belgian champions.
Celtic had been in devastating for to beat Lyon 2-0 at home on Matchday 2 and headed to Belgium with confidence that they could take their first away point or points in the Champions League.
The away day hoodoo had been killed off the previous seasons with wins away to Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool and Boavista while progressing against Celta Vigo and Stuttgart with impressive away performances.
The 1-0 scoreline in favour of Anderlecht barely told the story of the match.
Celtic were up against 10 men for over an hour but it was only after falling behind in the 72nd minute that they went looking for a goal.
Seven home points from nine was a decent return but the away day failures, particularly in Belgium meant that it was the UEFA Cup after Christmas and a great opportunity missed in Henrik Larsson’s last season at the club.
BAYERN MUNICH 2-1 CELTIC
Fresh from Seville and comfortable qualifying ties in Kaunus and Budapest there was no reason not to expect to take something from the trip to Munich.
It looked just like one of last season’s UEFA Cup away days when Alan Thompson opened the scoring early in the second half.
Bayern never really impressed but Roy Makaay equalised in the 73rd minute then Magnus Hedman had a ‘mare with four minutes to go to hand the Germans full points.
The away day confidence created the previous season suddenly felt quite distant.
CELTIC 2-0 LYON
This game suggested that Celtic had arrived in the Champions League.
The highly rated French side were knock-out stage regulars but the team on the night was as formidable as the support from the stands.
Patience paid off in the 70th minute when Liam Miller, on the park six minutes earlier to replace John Hartson, headed the opener with Chris Sutton giving the home side a deserved win.
Three points from two matches was a decent start in a tight group with the double header against Anderlecht up next.
ANDERLECHT 1-0 CELTIC
Even now this is still one of the most disappointing results in the Champions League.
After losing all four previous Champions League away games Martin O’Neill seemed determined to pick up a point, even after Glen De Boeck was sent off in the 26th minute.
There as no change to the tactics despite having a man extra and Liam Miller on the bench- the match-winner at home to Lyon.
The inevitable happened when Aruna Dindane scored for Anderlecht in the 72nd minute, Miller got 10 minutes but there was no equaliser. Three points from three matches.
CELTIC 3-1 ANDERLECHT
The pressure was on to cancel out the defeat in Brussels with the team responding brilliantly.
Liam Miller was in from the start and joined Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton on the score-sheet before the half hour mark.
Alex Ferguson came to watch 17 year old Vincent Kompany but left when Miller was substituted, in January a pre-contract deal was agreed.
The final scoreline was 3-1 which put Celtic ahead of the Belgians in the head-to-head.
CELTIC 0-0 BAYERN MUNICH
The big memory from this match was of the Bayern players celebrating a point at the final whistle.
It was a tight match with both sides appearing content with a point to keep things live going into the final match.
Fortunately for Bayern they were at home to Celtic while Celtic had a much tougher task away to Lyon.
LYON 3-2 CELTIC
One of the most bizarre and disappointing Champions League matches ever.
Giovane Elber opened the scoring in the sixth minute but John Hartson levelled before the break.
Juninho had Lyon in front early after the break but with 15 minutes left to play Chris Sutton equalised and Celtic were on their way to the last 16.
John Kennedy, Ross Wallace and Momo Sylla were an unusual trio of substitutes but disaster struck in the 86th minute when Bobo Balde gave a penalty away with Juninho scoring to send Celtic into the UEFA Cup.