Australia NewsWilko Wins Roo vs Roo Part One |
CELTIC'S Socceroo Scott McDonald went close with a shot cleared off the line but Luke Wilkshire's Dinamo Moscow claimed a vital 1-0 Champions League away win overnight.
Wilkshire, playing in the centre of midfield for Dinamo, was instrumental in the win which puts the Russians in the driving seat in their third round tie after a seventh minute goal from Aleksandr Kokorin.
Both Australian internationals, McDonald and Wilkshire, lined up in the starting teams for their respective clubs, but it was the latter who went closest early on with a super 25-yard effort forcing a good save from Celtic's Artur Boruc on five minutes.
Moments later Wilkshire played his part as Dinamo broke down the left with Alexander Kerzhakov drilling in a low cross which Kokorin turned home past Boruc.
Dinamo's early pressure silenced the Glaswegian crowd and Celtic struggled to get into the game until the latter stages of the first stanza with most of the attacking play falling to new signing Marc-Antoine Fortuné rather than McDonald, who was unusually quiet.
But Celtic's Australian hitman did test the palms of Dinamo's goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov on 33 minutes, after turning onto his left, but McDonald couldn't power the shot past the Russian stopper.
Just a few minutes after the break though, the Australian did beat Gabulov with a lofted header from a Shaun Maloney cross, only for Dinamo's Denis Kolodin to clear the goalbound shot off the line.
The Scottish club pushed on in the second-half with the bulk of the pressure at Dinamo's goal, but failed to break down the Russians.
Bereft of ideas, Celtic boss Tony Mowbray made a double change upfront removing McDonald for the taller Chris Killen on 60 minutes as well as bringing on Georgios Samaras.
But Celtic were unable to make the breakthrough and Dinamo celebrated a crucial away victory which takes them one step closer to their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Elsewhere in the third round of Champions League qualifiers, Nikita Rukavytsya was a 63rd minute substitute as FC Twente grabbed a handy 0-0 draw at Portuguese runners-up Sporting Lisbon.
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