Celtic sweep past Benfica
Celtic romped 5 points clear of Benfica and FC Copenhagen during an exciting night at Parkhead.
Whilst Man Utd were beating Copenhagen 3-0 to continue their 100% record in Group F no one inside Parkhead or those watching the game at home on TV could have dreamed at the amazing game they were about to be served up.
In the first 2 minutes Celtic made their intent to take the game to the Portuguese when a cross from the right was flicked on by Zurawski where Shaun Maloney met the ball with a flying scissors kick that was expertly stopped by the opposition keeper.
The next 15 minutes there was more to follow as Celtic pressed and stretched Benfica searching for the opening, which sadly failed to appear.
The first half continued with Benfica getting a foothold into the match and they very nearly broke the Celtic rear guard with a long through ball that caught out McManus but luckily ran through to Artur Boruc.
The half time break gave Gordon Strachan the time he needed to refocus his team for the second half and to get them pushing on again as they did in the opening segment of the match.
In 56 minutes the ball came across the path of Kenny Miller to knock into the net to put Celtic in front. The celebrations were able to continue again 10 minutes later when Miller scored his second goal of the night after an amazing break up the park from Celtic which had amazing pace and touch that was finish with a thundering strike.
At 2-0 the points were assured and Pearson put the finish the evening required with a goal from a rebounded Nakamura strike on the 90 minute.
3-0 it finished and this was Celtic’s largest victory in the Champions League against an opponent of some regard.
These two sides will now face each other in two weeks time in Lisbon where Benfica will be playing to continue their involvement in this season’s competition, knowing that anything other than a victory will see them battling Copenhagen for 3rd place.
For Celtic this is a fantastic opportunity for the club at last to progress into the knock out stages for the first ever time and on this performance it is a level where the club really should be.
