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Celtic ride out late Dinamo Zagreb storm after Kris Commons’ fine winner | Celtic ride out late Dinamo Zagreb storm after Kris Commons’ fine winner |
(35 minutes later) | |
Ronny Deila thanked Craig Gordon after another fine performance by the Celtic goalkeeper helped his side earn victory and top spot in Group D. | |
The midfielder Kris Commons gave the home side the lead in the sixth minute with a well-worked goal but, as in the 2-2 draw in Salzburg in Celtic’s opener, the 31-year-old Gordon was the hero. | |
The Scotland international, signed on a free transfer in the summer before Deila took over from Neil Lennon, came to the rescue again with several fine saves, two in particular from the Portuguese forward Wilson Eduardo making the difference. | |
“Craig was unbelievable,” Deila, the Celtic manager, said. “I said to him in the dressing room that we have him to thank for conceding zero goals and winning the game. Celtic have had good goalkeepers in the past and that is important. It is an important place to have good players. | |
“He was a prospect to come in before I was the manager of the club but I knew he was a fantastic goalkeeper who was out for a long time [with injury]. The goalkeeping coach [Stevie Woods] said he was ready to come back again and he has been an unbelievable signing. He can’t do much better than he has shown. He can work on his kicking but he is a fantastic keeper and very calm.” | “He was a prospect to come in before I was the manager of the club but I knew he was a fantastic goalkeeper who was out for a long time [with injury]. The goalkeeping coach [Stevie Woods] said he was ready to come back again and he has been an unbelievable signing. He can’t do much better than he has shown. He can work on his kicking but he is a fantastic keeper and very calm.” |
Deila admitted his side had been under the cosh as the game wore on. “When you see the second half they were better than us and had their chances,” he said. | Deila admitted his side had been under the cosh as the game wore on. “When you see the second half they were better than us and had their chances,” he said. |
“In the first half we had the chances and it was even with the ball. We started the game well and got a fantastic goal, so we were very good in the first half but in the second half we got very tired and couldn’t keep the ball. But in the end it was a fantastic team spirit, we worked really hard, defended fantastic and they didn’t get a lot of chances.” | “In the first half we had the chances and it was even with the ball. We started the game well and got a fantastic goal, so we were very good in the first half but in the second half we got very tired and couldn’t keep the ball. But in the end it was a fantastic team spirit, we worked really hard, defended fantastic and they didn’t get a lot of chances.” |
Commons, back from an injury lay-off, decided the game with his early goal. He cleverly stepped over a pass from the left-back, Emilio Izaguirre, and then ran on to Stokes’s perfectly-weighted through ball before shooting low past the Zagreb goalkeeper Eduardo. | |
Just before the half-hour mark, the visitors went close when Wilson, a constant danger, sent a drive from 25 yards whistling past Gordon only to see it rebound off the crossbar with the defender Virgil van Dijk helping to scramble the rebound clear. Four minutes later, however, Celtic should have been two up when Eduardo, in a moment of careless indecision, gifted possession to Commons six yards from goal but his pass to the better-placed Stokes was over-hit and the visitors survived. | |
Gordon denied Wilson before half-time but the same player had a great chance to level nine minutes after the break when a mix-up in the Celtic defence put him in the clear, only for the former Hearts and Sunderland goalkeeper to pull off a tremendous point-blank save. | |
Dinamo had a firm grip on the game by then with Gordon making further stops from Marcelo Brozovic and the Algerian El Arbi Hilal Soudani but Celtic, despite being forced to defend desperately at the end, survived. |