Champions League Wednesday September 29th 2005

AC Milan 3

Celtic 1

1:0 Shevchenko 8
1:1 Varga 74
2:1 Inzaghi 89
3:1 Pirlo 90 subs 0:1 Thompson 56
1:1 Makaay 73
1:2 Makaay 86

Att:58,589

ref: Vessiere (Fra)

Celtic: Marshall Agathe Balde Varga Valgaeren Petrov Lennon Sutton Thompson Camara Hartson
subs Juninho for Thompson 59
Sylla for Hartson 86

Over 10,000 Celtic fans from all across Europe made the pilgrimage to what can only be described as one of the most impressive football arenas in the World. A real monument to the beautiful game, the San Siro made the Camp Nou look tatty and tame by comparison. In keeping with the occasion, Celtic rose to the challenge and produced a memorable performance. Unfortunately, it resulted in our seventh straight away defeat in the Champs League.

The mega-rich Italians went straight for Celtic's jugular and within seven minutes had managed to sink their teeth into the Sieve. Kaka , direct and elusive, waltzed past several challenges, setting up Shevchenko to shoot past Marshall.

Bowels on the terracing emptied faster than a bottle of the local Chianti as a re-run of the first half against Barca distinctly looked on the cards. Milan, all rhythm and pace, played keep-ball while Celtic struggled to get out of their own half. But, amazingly, Celtic's resolve held and the Hoops managed to go in only one goal down, largely thanks to some deft keeping by Marshall, who seems to thrive on the big occasion, and to a goal line block by Bobo.

Worryingly, nearly all Milan's chances came from sloppy play by Celtic and not from Italian creativity. The only positive note of the half was a Varga header from a corner.

The second period was a complete reversal of events as Celtic laid siege to the Milan end. Juninho replaced an injured Thompson and set to work disrupting the Milanese rhythm in midfield. Camara continually worried the Milan rearguard and three times had the chance to level , only for weak finishing allowing Dida to save.

An equaliser was on the cards and it duly arrived via another Varga header from a Petrov corner, that left Dida stranded.

Celtic were now firmly in control and might have gone ahead, but for astute keeping and a failure by the MIB to spot a hand ball in the box.

Our first CL away points seemed in the bag until the bubble eventually burst in the last minute. Sylla - a questionable late substitute for Hartson - got ahead of the ball instead of defending. In a scene reminiscent of Anton Rogan at his best, Varga rushed in a tackle and missed. The ball was delivered to Inzaghi, who put Milan ahead. Within a minute a Pirlo free kick, following another Varga challenge, was deflected in for number three.

Once again, as against Juve, Lyon, Bayern and Porto , the Sieve let us down. We simply lack defenders of sufficient quality at this level and it is galling to be in this position again.

On the bright side, we got our act together against potential tournament winners and held our own for 89 minutes. We are not out of this yet (well, we might make the UEFA cup).