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Quick Review
What can you say? We just defeated AC Milan the current Champions League holders at Celtic Park after what can be said to be a topsy turvey game. A very rainy day but the match was spoiled far more by some extreme amounts of over-acting and gamesmanship by AC Milan. After taking the lead we were then soon level due to a disgraceful penalty decision, only to steal a victory in the dying minutes of the game.


Trivia

• A wee fud pranced onto the pitch and gave a wee pat on the cheek to the AC Milan goalkeeper who 10 seconds later decided to take a dive over it! Embarrassing and ridiculous, but the wee fud who run onto the pitch should get clobbered!
  • Luckily for Celtic, we got a paltry £10k fine, and the wee man was banned for life from Celtic. UEFA thankfully saw it was minimal.
  • Dida (the Milan goalie) was banned for two games for his embarrassing antics, but was reduced to one on appeal.
  • Papers went over the top about us gettign banned possibly etc, however ironically the Italians were more measured and saw it as silly over-exuberance by a mad fan and nothing more.
• McDonald's first European goal.
• George Connolly honoured at Celtic Park, returning after a very long stint away since the 70s.
• First ever penalty scored by opposition at Parkhead (exc penalty shoot-outs) in European match.

Teams

Celtic team:- Boruc, Perrier Doumbe (Kennedy 79), Caldwell, McManus, Naylor, McGeady (Nakamura 85), Hartley, Donati, Jarosik (Killen 84),Scott Brown, McDonald.

Subs Not Used:- Mark Brown, Riordan, Sno, O'Dea.

Booked:- Scott Brown, Donati, McDonald.

Goals:- McManus 62, McDonald 90.


AC Milan team:- Dida (Kalac 90), Oddo, Nesta, Bonera, Jankulovski, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf (Gourcuff 55), Kaka, Inzaghi (Gilardino 76).

Subs Not Used:- Emerson, Simic, Favalli, Brocchi.

Booked:- Ambrosini, Nesta.

Goal:- Kaka 68 pen.

Att: 58,643

Ref: Markus Merk (Germany).

Articles

• Match Report
• Manager Interview

Pictures

• Match Pictures

KStreet

• Pre-match
• Match
• MoTM - McManus (Link to MOTM Winners)
• Post-match

Stats

Celtic		Milan
2	Goals scored	1
3	Yellow card	2
0	Red card	0
4	Shots on goal	2
3	Shots wide	5
20	Fouls committed	16
3	Corners	5
1	Offsides	0
28' 55''	Ball. Poss. (time)	28' 13''
50%	Ball. Poss. (%)	50%

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Report

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Celtic's dignified Donati has the last laugh
By ROGER HANNAH

Last updated at 08:51am on 5th October 2007

Comments

Keeping a cool head when all around you are losing theirs can often be the difference between glorious success and spirit-crushing failure for elite sportsmen.

Massimo Donati, his pulse quickening at the prospect of gaining revenge over a coach who deemed him surplus to requirements at the San Siro, could have been excused had he struggled to maintain his composure in the closing stages at Parkhead on Wednesday night.


All credit to the former Milan midfielder, then, for staying calm and outshining Rino Gattuso and Co on an evening when tempers flared and a torrential downpour gave way to a tide of raw emotion.

And Donati insisted yesterday that the ability to marry 'intelligence and passion' can be the key as Celtic covet a return to the last-16 knockout phase of the Champions League.

Celtic's mettle was tested time and again by the reigning European champions yet, whatever Milan tried, Gordon Strachan's men stood their ground and answered in style.

When Clarence Seedorf dictated the early play, Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell were resolute in blocking their path to goal.

When Kaka's controversial penalty cancelled out McManus' opening goal, the SPL champions again mined reserves of will to pick themselves off the floor and go again.

And Donati believes those qualities will serve Celtic well in the remaining Group D games and perhaps beyond.

"Milan are the best team in the world, but Celtic played with intelligence and passion," he said. "It was a fantastic game and a fantastic win. I'm very happy.

"This is what I had dreamed of. I have been thinking of this all the time ever since we were drawn against Milan and I'm happy because I played well.

"We want to qualify from this group and Shakhtar winning in Lisbon wasn't ideal for us. It was so important for us to win after losing our game in Donetsk.

"This is a very important win for us, which we wanted so much and really fought for. It was also a happy night for me as I had 25 friends who had come over from Italy and they were all supporting Celtic and me."

Donati, a one-time £10million signing for Milan, was never given an opportunity by Carlo Ancelotti and feels he proved a point with his performance at Parkhead.

And the 26-year-old couldn't resist delivering his own withering assessment of the current state of Milan, as Champions League-winning coach Ancelotti clings on desperately to his position.

"I feel sorry for Milan, but I remembered them as being better than that," added Donati. "I didn't expect to see them play the way they did on Wednesday night.

"We were the better team in the first half and they were better after the break. That's football - sometimes you win and sometimes you lose - but this was perfect for us.

"They should not have been given a penalty - it was never a foul. But the Celtic fans were incredible, they had an important part to play and the atmosphere was terrific."