Milan - To the Last 16
It certainly wasn’t a vintage champions league performance to take them into the last 16 of the champions league, but no doubt Celtic will have been delighted at the nights outcome nonetheless.
Going in to a game knowing you need only a draw can sometimes be a dangerous thing, and Celtic certainly set up as if one point was their raison d'etre. With McDonald preferred to Hesselink ploughing the loan furrow up front, Massimo Donati came in to sheppard a midfield of McGeady, Hartley, Brown and Jarosik, against the might of Milan in his native land. O'Dea kept his place at left back with Naylor still absent through injury. Milan played as strong a midfield and forward as any other team in Europe could muster, electing however, for experienced heads like Cafu, Favalli and Simic in their backline alongside Bonera (in a four man defense which possessed a highly enviable 270 international caps between them).
In all truth Celtic rarely tested the ageing Milan rearguard, with Jarosik's drive from distance Celtic's only real highlight and threat of the first half. Although the home side had the bulk of the play, they didn’t seem to create as many gilt-edge chances as at times it looked like they really should have. Like many performances of late, Celtic's full backs seem to be the only ones in any kind of space when the team are in possession. Sadly, O'Dea, and Caldwell who are seen as ball playing centre halves, are in any way, comfortable in possession on the flanks, and repeated long balls forward were easy for the Italian's to deal with.
In order to capture their home form, whilst on the road in Europe, Celtic must find a way to bring there better and more progressive players into the game. Even with McDonald upfront alone, there must be more effective way to bring the flowery play of McGeady, the energy of Brown, and the experience of Jarosik to the fore in order to take the pressure off the defense.
More and more, Kaka became instrumental in Milan’s dominance, and as Celtic, who had managed to keep the score line goalless at half time, began to show the signs of cracking. Venegoor came on in an attempt to allow the long ball to have an effective outlet. To no avail, as Milan kept Celtic pinned in, with Inzaghi who earlier missed a header which looked easier to score, slotting home on the 70th minute to score his record breaking 63rd goal in European competition. Milan had few efforts on goals after this, and Scott Brown bombed forward to get on the end of a hopeful ball from defense but didn’t test the keeper when really he should have.
The best action of the night for the Celtic support was the intermittent updates of the Shaktar V Benfica game, showing that in the end, Benfica did enough to pave the path for Celtic to charge on to the latter stages of the Champions League for the second year in a row.
Going in to a game knowing you need only a draw can sometimes be a dangerous thing, and Celtic certainly set up as if one point was their raison d'etre. With McDonald preferred to Hesselink ploughing the loan furrow up front, Massimo Donati came in to sheppard a midfield of McGeady, Hartley, Brown and Jarosik, against the might of Milan in his native land. O'Dea kept his place at left back with Naylor still absent through injury. Milan played as strong a midfield and forward as any other team in Europe could muster, electing however, for experienced heads like Cafu, Favalli and Simic in their backline alongside Bonera (in a four man defense which possessed a highly enviable 270 international caps between them).
In all truth Celtic rarely tested the ageing Milan rearguard, with Jarosik's drive from distance Celtic's only real highlight and threat of the first half. Although the home side had the bulk of the play, they didn’t seem to create as many gilt-edge chances as at times it looked like they really should have. Like many performances of late, Celtic's full backs seem to be the only ones in any kind of space when the team are in possession. Sadly, O'Dea, and Caldwell who are seen as ball playing centre halves, are in any way, comfortable in possession on the flanks, and repeated long balls forward were easy for the Italian's to deal with.
In order to capture their home form, whilst on the road in Europe, Celtic must find a way to bring there better and more progressive players into the game. Even with McDonald upfront alone, there must be more effective way to bring the flowery play of McGeady, the energy of Brown, and the experience of Jarosik to the fore in order to take the pressure off the defense.
More and more, Kaka became instrumental in Milan’s dominance, and as Celtic, who had managed to keep the score line goalless at half time, began to show the signs of cracking. Venegoor came on in an attempt to allow the long ball to have an effective outlet. To no avail, as Milan kept Celtic pinned in, with Inzaghi who earlier missed a header which looked easier to score, slotting home on the 70th minute to score his record breaking 63rd goal in European competition. Milan had few efforts on goals after this, and Scott Brown bombed forward to get on the end of a hopeful ball from defense but didn’t test the keeper when really he should have.
The best action of the night for the Celtic support was the intermittent updates of the Shaktar V Benfica game, showing that in the end, Benfica did enough to pave the path for Celtic to charge on to the latter stages of the Champions League for the second year in a row.
posted by Michael__67 at 6:19 AM
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