Celtic survives Champions League group stage

Celtic defeated Spartak Moscow 2-1 on the final day of the Champions League group stage. With Benfica failing to score any goals against Barcelona, the Scots and Catalonians will both progress to the round of 16 with Benfica relegated to the Europa League.

Benfica and Celtic were both level on points in second and third position before kick-off on Thursday morning Australian time. The team with the better result would make second position and the next round of Champions League football.

Benfica had the difficult challenge of travelling to Spain, but Barcelona had been guaranteed a spot in the next round and therefore fielded a relatively inexperienced squad. Benfica started their match well and had a number of chances but failed to make them count.

Celtic opened the scoring in Scotland in the 21st minute when Insaurralde made a mistake in the Spartak defence. Celtic striker Gary Hooper pounced on the ball and powered it past the Spartak keeper and into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Emmanuel Emenike drew the Celtic defenders towards himself in the 39th minute before passing the ball towards team-mate Ari. At first it seemed Emenike had held onto the ball for too long, but Ari expertly chipped the ball over Fosters head. Celtic defence unsuccessfully attempted to clear the ball off of the line, and the score was levelled at 1-1 going into the break.

With both matches level at half-time, Benfica would have gone through due to their better head-to-head against the Scots.

Celtic came out of the half determined to score a winning goal. And they came close a few times, with Samaras hitting the woodwork, and Spartak keeper needing some quick reflexes to keep his side in it.

Barcelona brought Lionel Messi on in the 58th minute. The Argentine was seeking one goal to equal Gerd Muller’s record of 85 goals in a calendar year.

Meanwhile, back in Scotland, Celtic’s striker Georgios Samaras dribbled the ball away from the goals in the box when Spartak defender Suchy clumsily pushed him in the chest. Samaras fell to the ground and won his team a penalty.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon could not watch Kris Commons take the spot-kick as he turned his back on the match and buried his head in his hands. Common hit the top post with a powerful left-foot and the ball rebounded into the inside of the goals.

Messi failed to find a goal in Barcelona and was carried off in the 85th minute after twisting his knee while attempting to chip the keeper. It remains to be seen how bad the injury is.

Spartak midfielder Kim Kallstrom received a second yellow card for a late challenge that studded Commons in the thigh. The Celtic striker was carried off the pitch on a stretcher by the challenge.

With a one man advantage Celtic managed to hold onto the win thanks to some expert time wasting from Samaras and Charlie Mulgrew. With the match in Barcelona ending goalless, Celtic moved up to second in Group G and will join Barcelona in the Champions League when it returns after Christmas.

The other results from Thursday morning sees Chelsea exit the Champions League after a 0-1 Juventus victory over Shakhtar. Despite defeated Nordsjaelland 6-1 the Blues only managed third place in Group E and will make Europa League.

Bayern Munich topped Group F thanks to a 4-1 victory over BATE Borisov. The Belarusians will continue in the Europa League. Valencia, who defeated Lille 1-0 will follow Munich through to the round-of-16.

Manchester United and Galtassaray will progress from group H, the Turks having a 2-1 victory over Braga to thank for that. Cluj defeated United 0-1 and will continue in the Europa League.

Keep a look out for preview and predictions after the Champions League and Europa League knockout rounds are drawn on Thursday 20 December.