Eurosport - Thu, 06 Aug 17:53:00 2009
Celtic's Champions League dream is still alive after Tony Mowbray's Bhoys overturned a first-leg deficit to send Dinamo Moscow spinning out of the competition 2-1 on aggregate.
Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras scored at the end of each half to clinch a 2-0 win on the night.
The victory takes Celtic through to the final round of qualifying and within touching distance of the promised land of the Champions League group stages.
If Celtic's plan was to silence the crowd in the opening exchanges, they executed it to perfection as the midfield pairing of Massimo Donati and Landry N'Guemo snapped into the tackles and the back four gave Alexander Kerzhakov no space in which to operate.
Dinamo seemed content to sit in and the Russians caused Artur Boruc no alarm in the opening half-hour.
Celtic were far more positive than their hosts and Aiden McGeady was particularly bright down the right flank, although the end product was lacking as the balls into the box were poor.
A minute before half-time, Andreas Hinkel showed McGeady, Daniel Fox and Shaun Maloney exactly how to deliver a ball into the box with a sumptuous cross which created the opening goal.
McDonald had been starved of service for 44 minutes, but he proved his class as he pulled away from his marker to find a yard of space and head beyond Vladimir Gabulov.
The goal sparked Dinamo into life and they came within a whisker of levelling the scores seconds before the interval, as Hinkel was forced to hack Dmitri Khokhlov's low drive from 10 yards off the line.
Dinamo failed to make the electric start to the second half that was expected and it took a sloppy piece of play from Hinkel to hand them a chance. The German let the ball slip under his foot, and Dmitri Kombarov strode on to the ball but flashed a shot a foot wide of target.
The chance appeared to rouse Dinamo as the Kombarov brothers combined to almost open up Celtic. Dmitri whipped in a corner that was headed goalwards by Kirill but Hinkel was on hand to clear off the line for a second time.
A Dinamo onslaught failed to materialise and Maloney had a chance to win the tie in the 90th minute when burrowing into the box, but he shot straight at the keeper.
Maloney still had his head in his hands when Samaras popped up to send Celtic's small band of travelling supporters into raptures.
The Greek had only been on the field for 10 minutes but was attuned to the pace of the game as he gathered the ball in the box, worked his way across the area before steering a low shot into the corner to register his first goal in European competition for the club and see Celtic overturn a European first-leg deficit away from home for the first time.
Comment 213 - 232 of 232
Why don't ye change the record ya tadger...Same pish week in week oot. I'm no living in the past one bit, and just to prove it, how many of those trophies have ye won this decade and how many have we won? When you win it, how long do you have it for? No even a baw kicked in the league yet and you are full of it. Take a pill noo and wait to the season starts and then come back and see who will have bragging rights again.
I know what fenian means so dont tell me what i know and dont know and just as i thought,a sad sad Septic fan living in the past about a cup win when he wasn't born so thanks for that,ya thick ignorant @#$%,i couldn't give a damn what the rest of Europe thinks,it's always gonna be a bragging right to see who wins the title in Scotland as you're having a laugh if you think your mob is gonna do anything in Europe,Rangers will always be the No.1 team in Scotland and that's what sticks in yer throat.
STAND UP FOR THE CHAMPIONS!!!
hahaha So I'm a Ned at 38 am I?... I'll need to tell the wife I sound younger than I am. As for being called a Fenian, you have absolutely no grasp of the term or what it is and I'm not even going to try and educate you about it.
As for your titles written in black and white, well that's your history but no-one else's but if you want to argue that its 52 or 51 and a bit, then that's up to you, it just shows the desperation your lot have when it comes to having to have that record. We would much rather play teams in Europe and at least attack instead of defensive pish football that gets you nowhere. You think the rest of Europe gives a shyte that you have won so many league titles in a wee country on the periphary of Europe - Not a chance. Now away back to bed as you obviously got up too early this morning when you pished yourself and yer mum had to change yer sheets.
It's 52 Titles,ya thick fenian scumbag,get that through yer thick head,it's written in black and white and i'm guessing you're one of those wee neds that boast about winning a champions cup when you weren't even born,that makes you very sad in most people's eyes so continue to live in the past,at least Rangers haven't got one of the worst records away from home in the Champions League,you're a laughing stock with your immature comments.
What the feck does it matter if I witnessed it or not ya bawbag? I know it was done and it was written down. Last season they were waxing lyrical because Man united looked like they were gonnae win everything and saying it was unprecidented - Well it wasn't unprecidented 'cos it has been done by Celtic. But, seeing as how you're a moron, I'll state it again, yer first trophy was shared with Dumbarton, so that shouldn't count should it? And for all these leagues you won, you then went on to the fumbling about in the Champions league and were a laughing stock nearly as bad as yer pals Linfield.
228 - Did you witness every trophy won??...i'm guessing no so STFU and start living in the present,it's gonna be 53 & Counting for the No.1 team in Scotland!
STAND UP FOR THE CHAMPIONS!!!
#227 A point I made a wee while back son... 51 1/2... and Finished. When you win every trophy that is presented before you in one season then get back to us.
To World Record 52 Champions, surely that should read 51 1/2. You only shared the first one wi Dumbarton.
well done samy boi Celtic deserved to go through ! ! ! great performance ! ! !
point 208 - aye it's 53 titles next year ya illiterate tarrier go back to school and learn!
#226 peterlarkin; Sorry trooper but, unless I'm going completely doolally, you've got it wrong on two counts, you've either never seen it, or your memory has become selective; 1 I'm a dyed in the wool Celtic man: 2 the final whistle had gone; The pitch 'invasion' was no worse that we had in Lisbon in '67; the 'gers fans were just every bit ecstatic as we were.
The trouble was that the ground was filled with riot police, because the Russians were at odds with the Spanish regime and trouble was expected from the Russian supporters. When the ‘gers fans ran onto the pitch, the Spanish police waded into them with batons, causing all sorts of mayhem. The trophy was presented to John Greig in the tunnel. Castro made out that the ‘riot’ could have caused an incident with the Russian brigade and the net result was that Rangers were banned from European competitions for 2 Years. It got reduced on appeal to 1 year, but it still remains an absolute liberty.
Who’s the dafty now then?
well done the hoops tae the sad hun stay away and you die and the game wiznae finished it was a pitch invasion ya dafty hai hail
Hey no worries the Black Skull can play all right and it's magic to watch them walking along the Queen's highway,in fact i'm listening to them right now,Loud and Proud!!!
Hi
Hi to Black Skull (???) Flute (if only you lot could play:-SSS)Band
What's your take on the average, neanderthal, 'THING', Rangers supporter (yeah, well, you'd need to be born in a cave or up a tree to be one of them:-S)
that calls himself/herself/IT 'Russell L, # 204?
Such a lovely, human being...okokok, that's stretching things a bit, I know...but, genuine thoughts on a retarded, sick, illiterate, piece of evolution that has gone wrong. Might be difficult as Ibrox is full of such abominations regularly...
204 ur just an attention seekin @#$% who obviously has a couple of screws loose. get well soon big john! gr8 result bhoys! hail hail!
204....really really sad..! i could not even THINK those thoughts far less put them on a forum!! this is not about football, actually i cant find the train of thought with these types of comments (thankfully). its awful how some people were dragged up.
anyway, yes a great result, against a decent/good team - and away from home..
hope this is a better celtic season...we'll see.
well done CELTIC keep up the good work we'er only started lets make one to remember HAIL HAIL
HELLO
Bayern Munich Champions League Winner 2010!!!
well done celtic back 2 there best
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account