Champions League: Celtic 2-1 Spartak Moscow – Bhoys Back In The Big Time After Late Parkhead Victory (Photos & Highlights)
By Alan Duffy
Celtic 2-1 Spartak Moscow – Champions League – 5th December 2012
Celtic left it late to secure their passage into the last 16 of the Champions League, with Kris Commons firing home from the penalty spot on 82 minutes to give his side that all important win.
In-form GAry Hooper had initially opened the scoring on 21 minutes at a highly-charged Celtic Park, but Brazilian striker Ari levelled the scores before the break.
With the game and indeed Celtic’s Champions LEague hopes on a knife-edhe, the home side pushed for the winner after the break with Giorgios Samaras and Efe Ambrose both going close. But then as the game neared the final whistle, Samaras was felled in the box and Commons duly fired home from the penalty spot.
Swedish schemer Kim Kallstrom was then sent off after a nasty foul on Commons, which ended the visitors hopes of getting a goal back and that was that.
Hoops boss Neil Lennon was, understandably, ecstatic at the end of the game, with the Bhoys making it to the knockout stages of the competition for the first time since 2008.
Photos…
Highlights…
Photos: PA
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Love those jerseys. I wish all would follow suit and shrink the corporate logos.
Celtic back in the big time! Beyond our wildest expectations! I will savor the night!
what a soft penalty. bullshit.
Dan, keep your crappy opinion to yourself you miserable git. It was a penalty as Suchy clumsily tumbled into Samaras hence the lack of argument from said offender when the decision was given. Fantastic achievement for the club and again another advert for Scottish football.
@Your Maw: this is a comments section where anyone can comment in relation to the article, i can share my opinion, you don’t have to read it. and yes it was a soft penalty. samaras is a big guy, that little bump does not take him down. it’s not even a foul. if someone went down from that in midfield it wouldn’t be given, it shouldn’t be given in the box either.
and yes, another advert for scottish football. “come and watch the only not-awful team that doesn’t play in the 4th division”
Dan, if you look at replays he tangles legs with him as well. Some might say it was a soft penalty but the fact of the matter is that it was given and it won them the game and put them through to the last 16. Now this is only a presumption but I’m thinking that your maybe of the Man City/Chelski/Bitter Rangers fan variety. Sad little man who can’t be happy for a teams achievement despite the fact that most people did not rate them to qualify for Europa league, never mind the last 16. I respected your opinion until the bullshit part, then I just thought…Wanker.
yes, that’s the fact of the matter, but what football fan wouldn’t be annoyed if it put their team out? have you guessed what team i’m a bitter fan of now?
to call me a sad little man because i’m annoyed my team went out…that’s a bit harsh. by that reason, every football fan is a sad little man. and yes, my team (Benfica, if you’ve still not caught on) should have taken our chances to go through because we’re the second best footballing team in the group and we should have scored goals against barcelona last night, but it was the penalty that sealed our exit. and what football fan wouldn’t be annoyed at the ultimate deciding factor when they’re seeing red after their team be knocked out?
@Dan, I understand your frustration but if your were to be frustrated then be frustrated at your team for not finishing the job. It was yours to lose. Every decent fan accepts what happens and gets on with it. Show a bit of humility and congratulate the team that pipped your team to second spot. It showcases that sometimes, sometimes, football is not all about the money. Your team should have shown the same grit and determination that Celtic did when they played against my team. I congratulated them when they beat us at their ground.
@Your Maw, calm down sir
@Farcelona, you’re right, and I did admit that we didn’t finish the job but straight after something like that you tend to look for excuses
@Dan, being a Benfica fan the only excuse I need is that we were crap and couldn’t even win against Barcelona’s B team. Celtic managed to win a game against Barcelona’s first team, we didn’t. They won both games against Spartak, we didn’t. If Benfica won against Barcelona, Celtic fans would be rightly disappointed as Barça played with second string players and lost, as that wouldn’t be fair, they played “for real” twice against Barça.
This is not the Portuguese League, stop putting excuses on everything and the referees and assume we didn’t go through because we’ve not done enough to advance.
@Nuno, read my other comments. I said straight after the game I blamed the celtic penalty because I was annoyed but later I knew it was because we didn’t take our chances.