The article of the Scottish Sun :
BATTERED by Braga and humiliated by Utrecht last season, pumped up to make amends this term.
Instead Neil Lennon was only to endure torture as Celtic delivered buckets of perspiration - but never enough inspiration.
The one positive was not conceding, but by full-time it felt like cold comfort ahead of a potentially treacherous deciding leg next Thursday.
Being knocked out by Sion would rank as one of Celtic's worst ever Euro humiliations.
They dominated last night - but ended up totally cheesed off by the Swiss.
A dead leg for Kelvin Wilson in training was a stunning late blow for the player, eager to make his Euro bow, and for gaffer Lennon. It forced a sudden defensive reshuffle with Charlie Mulgrew in alongside Daniel Majstorovic while Cha Du-Ri was given the right-back berth.
Loan keeper Fraser Forster marked a second spell at the club by coming straight back in as No1 for the desperately disappointed Lukasz Zaluska.
This was easily Lennon's biggest gamble with rusty Scottish Cup winner Forster lacking pre-season action.
Sion blatantly defied FIFA by starting with two of five players deemed ineligible by the governing body, former Hearts star Jose Goncalves and ex-Hoops trialist Pascal Feindouno, due to them being signed while a transfer embargo is in force.
Even if they knock out the Hoops they could still be kicked out of the competition by FIFA if they lose an appeal case against their sanction currently before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A verdict is due after next week's second leg.
Their president and owner Christian Constantin makes Vladimir Romanov look like Mary Poppins. He's gone through a staggering 29 coaches in two spells at the Sion helm going back to 1992.
For now he's happy with Laurent Roussey - and he would have been more than content with how the minnows dealt with the stop-start Hoops in the first half.
A fevered atmosphere greeted the teams and Celtic were out of the traps quickly.
It was a case of them huffing and puffing in the opening stages as they searched for an early goal.
Feindouno - rejected by Lennon last December - looked in the mood to embarrass the Hoops.
His darting runs and quick feet behind two strikers was a nightmare for the defence.
The home side's first real opening saw a 16th minute Anthony Stokes cross deflected into the path of Kris Commons at the far side of the box.
The Scotland star's left-foot shot was superbly blocked by Arnaud Buhler.
Celtic were dominant, but Cha had to show amazing pace moments later to race back and snuff out the danger of Guilherme Afonso, who had a ten-yard start in him. Sion - with five at the back including Goncalves - were frustrating Celtic who were restricted to half-chances.
Joe Ledley and Georgios Samaras - recalled for the injured Gary Hooper - couldn't get enough power in headers as Lennon's men worked hard for openings.
Ki Sung Yueng - pinpointed pre-match by Roussey as Celtic's main man - could only manage a weak 24th-minute free-kick at keeper Andris Vanins.
Sion, sparked by Feindouno, were sharp on the break and Mulgrew had Celtic hearts in mouths in the 25th minute by bringing down Afonso on the edge of their box.
Michael Dingsdag's free-kick was blocked, though, as the Hoops immediately went on the attack again.
Mulgrew then showed up at the other end with a left-foot free-kick from 20-yards tipped over by Vanins. Eight minutes from the break Stokes - his debut for Celtic on this stage - looked certain to score after racing in on Vanins after a Goncalves slip.
He took the ball wide of the keeper who managed to push it clear. Stokes went down and ref Marijo Strahonja promptly booked him for diving.
Regardless of the card, the Irishman should have shot instead of the option he chose.
Commons rose superbly in the closing seconds of the half to head down a Cha cross, but agonisingly it was at Vanins.
Ref Strahonja constantly provoked anger with his inconsistency and Lennon was openly furious with the whistler.
Sion sub Mario Mutsch went right through Scott Brown with a flying challenge, boots up, in the 57th minute - but there was no booking.
Strahonja had no choice, however, but to put Jose Adailton in his book in the 61st minute for a cynical trip on Ki.
With James Forrest already on, Lennon introduced Shaun Maloney for Stokes for the last 20 minutes and he had a free-kick saved at full stretch by Vanins with Samaras unable to force home the loose ball.
Celtic had stand-side linesman Zeiljko Novosel to thank for an offfside call in the 73rd minute, as the flag went up before Sio put the ball past Forster.
Then the Celts keeper, with nerves frayed, tipped over a Sio free-kick.
With ten minutes left Brown horribly sliced wide of a gaping goal with Vanins on the deck after shots had been blocked.
Paddy McCourt came on to a rousing reception late on - but not even the Derry Pele could provide a last-gasp winner with Vanins saving from Ki.
Source :
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol ... z1VTZv4zvh