The night we beat the reigning European Champions…
17 years ago today, Celtic recorded one of our most memorable wins in the Champions League era as we defeated a superb AC Milan side to record a valuable win.
Milan were indeed the holders and boasted the likes of Alessandro Nesta, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, and Filippo Inzaghi in their ranks.
In a night of torrential rain and heavy wind in Glasgow it wasn’t perhaps the night for pretty football, but both sides got stuck in regardless and it made for quite the battle.
The first hour passed without anything in the way of note, but on the 62nd minute Stephen McManus fired Celtic into the lead with the aid of a Milan defender. The Celtic Park crowd went ballistic as we were on the verge of taking yet another big scalp at Paradise.
The lead though unfortunately didn’t last long though and just five minutes later the brilliant Kaka fired the holders level from the penalty spot. The heads were down, but this was Paradise under the lights on a European night so all wasn’t lost.
We thought furiously to grab a winner, while also being wary of being caught on the counter by the Italians and it was a nervy last twenty minutes or so.
Then with time running out Dida in the Milan goal spilled a shot right into the path of Scott McDonald, and with Skippy being the poacher he is tapped the ball home to send the Celtic supporters into a state of euphoria.
Despite the Milan protests in looking for an offside the goal stood, and it was all too much for Dida who hit the deck feigning injury after an invading Celtic supporter got to close to the Brazilian, but there was no contact and Dida done nothing but embarrass himself.
The final whistle sounded soon afterwards and we celebrated as we beat the reigning European champions to register a valuable three points and very memorable win.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
