Celtic sweat over Adrian D Casha's findings amid celebration of new saviour at Aston Villa

Celtic signed off their Champions League main phase campaign with an entertaining 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa and Alan Pattullo picks out three ‘extras’ from the match in Birmingham. In the hands of Casha Does a gentleman by the name Adrian D Casha, a former Fifa referee, hold Celtic’s Champions League prospects in his hands? The Maltese Uefa delegate at last night’s clash with Aston Villa in Birmingham will presumably have seen a flare thrown onto the pitch after the first of Adam Idah’s two goals as the visitors staged a thrilling but ultimately futile comeback in the 4-2 defeat . He will therefore likely include the incident in the report he will dispatch to European football’s governing body HQ.

If so, it will be guaranteed to raise an eyebrow or two since Uefa have had cause – as recently as October – to fine Celtic in relation to the lighting of fireworks at the 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalenstodion. Celtic published a statement shortly afterwards: “The club has received the decision issued by the Uefa Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body following the match against Borussia Dortmund, in which the Club has been sanctioned, again, for the lighting of fireworks by a small number of individuals attending the match. “The decision provides that, not only has the club received a fine of €20,000, but also that, if such behaviour is repeated at a match in the next two years, the club will be prevented from selling tickets to supporters for one away match in Uefa club competitions.



” It’s a great pity that the next European away match is guaranteed to be in one of football's great cathedrals in either Munich or Madrid. Celtic play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the knockout phase play-off round. An already tough assignment might well get tougher still in a completely partisan stadium in the away leg.

Celtic can’t say they haven’t been warned. As an aside, Celtic might hope Mr Casha is too giddy to care too much about Celtic’s pyrotechnic problem. After all, the team he loves are straight through to the last 16 of the Champions League.

In a recent interview with the Malta Independent, in a ‘getting to know you feature’, he was asked which team he supported. Answer? “Aston Villa." Life without Kyogo So how were Celtic going to fare without the player being talked about in – nearly – the same breath as Henrik Larsson? 85 goals in 137 starts, including 30 match winners and eight goals against Rangers, is some record.

Understandably, Celtic fans have been worrying how they might fill the void since Kyogo Furuhashi’s departure to Rennes in a £10 million deal last week. Wednesday night in Birmingham offered the a glimpse of life after Kyogo. It was the first chance to assess how Celtic might fare without the brilliant Japanese striker.

After five minutes, the verdict was: not so well. After 38 minutes, the visiting fans were hailing the successor to the throne, if it's not too indelicate to use such a phrase given the royal Villan Prince William’s attendance at Villa Park. Adam Idah looked the real deal as he converted two fine striker's goals to level the score before half time.

It’s not always been straightforward for the centre forward at Celtic Park, although the Irishman does have a habit of responding to the big occasion. Indeed, these high-profile goals have broken a 14-game drought. Although a very different kind of player, he might yet hold the key to replacing Kyogo.

The King is dead. Long live the King! The surprise interview As the editor noted in his introduction, it was incumbent on Villa to do justice to the first competitive meeting between them and Celtic. Kudos to the club, because they went to town in the official match programme when lining up interviews with Alan McInally and Stiliyan Petrov, two well-known players with feet in both camps.

While this might have been expected, another interview seemed slightly left-field, if only because it’s possible one might have forgotten Tommy Johnson played for Villa as well as Celtic. Indeed, he won the League Cup with the English club in 1996, which was before he signed for Celtic and manager Tommy Burns. Now living in Belfast and working for the Irish FA, Johnson was asked to pair up one teammate from Celtic and one from Aston Villa to form the ultimate strike partnership.

He chose Larsson from his time at Parkhead not surprisingly and Dwight Yorke from his Villa days. Celtic would have no problem against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or anyone else if they could pair these two up front next month in their knockout phase play-off assignment..