AC Milan eventually had a 2-0 win against the Scotish giant Celtic
thanks to Cristian Zapata’sdeflected shot and Sulley Ali Muntari. Though they left it late, but pushed past Celtic
in the champions’ league group stage encounter.
The Rossoneri put their Serie A
problems aside for this Champions League opener, although the injury crisis
left Max Allegri with
precious few options. Absentees included Stephan El Shaarawy, Kaka, Giampaolo Pazzini,Riccardo Montolivo, Ignazio Abate, Mattia De Sciglio and Matias Silvestre,while M’Baye Niang and Riccardo Saponara are
ineligible. Valter Birsa was given his full Milan debut. Celtic
missed James Forrest and Joe Ledley.
Early doors Fraser Forster did well to beat away a Mario Balotelli volley
fromBirsa’s cross, then rushed off his line to
close down Birsa for
a corner.
Christian Abbiati ran
a huge risk when he picked up what the referee considered to be a Cristian Zaccardo backpass, but Charlie Mulgrew’s indirect free kick from inside the
penalty area was blocked.
Forster was called
into action again by an Alessandro Matri header onZaccardo’s cross,
knocking it over with his wrist. Antonio Nocerino’s half-volley dipped just inches over
the bar and Philippe Mexes charged down a Stokes effort after Birsa’s poor backpass surprised Zapata.
Celtic had their best
chance of the game so far at the dawn of the second half, as Georgos Samaras
went on a solo run and unleashed a shot that skimmed the upright.
Zapata couldn’t
keep his header on target from a corner and Mexes deflected a long-range Kris Commons
strike just past the post with Abbiati beaten.
Sulley Ali Muntari should’ve
broken the deadlock on 63 minutes when he was found unmarked at the back post
by a Zapata cross,
but somehow nodded over the bar.
Abbiati haphazardly
punched away a Commons cross and Antonio Nocerinohad to charge down the
Samaras follow-up. Commons then went on the counter from a Balotelli free
kick and Nigel De Jong was decisive in taking the edge off
Brown’s finish, allowing Abbiati to smother.
Anthony Stokes thought
he had scored with a free kick that curled over the wall, but it smacked
against the crossbar.
Zapata finally
broke through with a bit of luck, as his snapshot looked to be going wide
before it hit Emilio Izaguirre’s shins and was redirected into the near
bottom corner. It would've been the Colombian defender’s first goal in a Milan
jersey, but UEFA credited
it as an own goal.
Muntari made
it 2-0 soon after, as Balotelli’s free kick was flapped on to the
woodwork and the Ghanaian was there to tap in the rebound from point-blank
range.
Milan 2-0 Celtic
Scorers: Izaguirre og 82
(M), Muntari 86
(M)
Milan: Abbiati; Zaccardo, Zapata, Mexes, Constant (Robinho 75); Nocerino, De Jong, Muntari; Birsa (Emanuelson 64); Balotelli, Matri (Poli 86)
Celtic: Forster; Lustig, Van Dijk,
Ambrose, Izaguirre; Matthews (Boerrigter74), Brown, Mulgrew (Biton 89);
Samaras; Commons (Pukki 77), Stokes
Ref: Stark (GER)
