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European Adventure: Celtic v Milan

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What better way to start my new column than with a famous scalping of one of Europe’s big guns, the formidable 7 time European Cup winners AC Milan.

What better way to start my new column than with a famous scalping of one of Europe’s big guns, the formidable 7 time European Cup winners AC Milan.

Wednesday 3rd October 2007: Celtic 2 (McManus 62, McDonald 90) Milan 1 (Kaka pen 68)

It was a wet night in Glasgow’s east end at the glorious Celtic Park when Gordon Strachan’s minnows overcame a huge obstacle in Milan’s seasoned defence to snatch a late victory.

The pitch was wet and the play was sluggish, many passes fell short and there was some clumsy challenges due to the stop start nature of play. The game came to life on the hour mark when Stephen McManus bundled the ball into the net from a corner kick.

Milan almost equalised within the minute when Andrea Pirlo’s deflected shot was awkwardly scooped over the bar by the wrong footed Boruc. Not long after Milan equalised through the spot when Lee Naylor clumsily brought down Ambrosini in the box when the ball was harmlessly fizzling out of play. Kaka sent Boruc the wrong way with the resulting spot kick.

Aiden McGeady had a shot spilled by Milan’s goalkeeper Dida as the game opened up. Not to be undone by his predecessor Martin O’Neill, Strachan fashioned yet another dramatic win at Celtic Park when Caldwell’s scuffed shot outside the penalty area was unconvincingly parried by Dida straight into the path of Scott McDonald who gleefully slotted home one of the easiest chances he would ever put away.

The drama wasn’t over, not to be undone by the winner he put on a plate for Celtic, Dida the Milan goalkeeper fell down under a soft slap in the face, not by a player but by an ecstatic fan who ran onto the pitch to show his appreciation of the Brazilian’s gift to Celtic.

A dramatic night at Celtic Park which resulted in a hefty fine and a two match ban for the theatrics of Dida and the three points for Celtic. Long will this serve the memories of our bhoys and ghirls as yet a famous European adventure. It instills memories of a previous famous 2-1 win over another certain Milanese club.

Written by DavidT_CFC

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