- Writer: AFP
- Published: 6/08/2009 at 02:59 AM
Greek international Georgios Samaras scored a goal in added on time here on Wednesday to give Scottish giants Celtic a superb 2-0 victory over Dynamo Moscow in their Champions League third preliminary round second leg clash to progress 2-1 on aggregate.
Greek international Georgios Samaras, seen here in 2008, scored a goal in added on time here on Wednesday to give Scottish giants Celtic a superb 2-0 victory over Dynamo Moscow in their Champions League third preliminary round second leg clash to progress 2-1 on aggregate.
Samaras - who was sent on by new manager Tony Mowbray in the 79th minute to replace the other goalscorer Australian Scott McDonald - notched his first goal in European competition for the club and created history as Celtic overturned a first leg deficit away from home for the first time in Europe.
Celtic - who were ending a dismal 22-game winless spell for the Old Firm giants away from home - dominated the match and will hope for a kindly draw on Friday for the final qualifying round which if they are successful in will see them make the lucrative group stage.
Mowbray said his side more than merited the victory.
"Over the two matches I think the better team came through the tie," said Mowbray, who played for Celtic from 1991-95.
"I thought we controlled the game for long spells and we got what we deserved in the end."
McDonald had given them the lead a minute before half-time when he headed Andreas Hinkel's cross past Vladamir Gabulov.
And with the game looking to be heading to extra-time it was Samaras who went on a mazy run before slotting past the keeper.
In what was a must win game Mowbray made only one change to the side which lost against the Russians in Glasgow with new signing Daniel Fox coming in for the injured Lee Naylor in defence.
Last week's Dynamo goalscorer Alexander Korobin dropped to the bench as Dynamo welcomed back captain Dmitry Khokhlov, who was suspended for the first leg.
Celtic looked up for the challenge right from the start as they enjoyed lots of early possession but failed to create any clear cut chances as McDonald and Marc-Antoine Fortune failed to click up front.
It was Dynamo who fashioned the first shooting opportunity with Alexander Kerzhakov curling a tame effort at Artur Boruc from 25 yards which the keeper easily gathered.
Celtic took until the half-hour mark to have their first shot on target with Shaun Maloney firing in a shot from 25 yards out but it trundled into the arms of Gabulov.
After some good build-up play from Celtic's loan signing Landry Nguemo was next to try his luck from distance but his tame effort didn't trouble the keeper.
In the 44th minute - and with the half looking like ending goalless - McDonald popped up to head Celtic into the lead.
Fortune laid the ball off for German international Hinkel to send a deep cross to the back post where the diminutive Australian rose above Denis Kolodin to steer his header past Gabulov and level the tie.
Dynamo looked to respond immediately and from a corner Khokhlov lashed in a shot at the back post but his effort was cleared off the line.
Dynamo started the second-half positively as they looked for a goal that would avoid extra-time. With 52 minutes gone a mistake by Hinkel allowed the ball to break to Dmitry Kombarov at the edge of the box and he drilled a low shot just past Boruc's post.
The Russians came agonisingly close to equalising three minutes later when Kirill Kombarov's header from twin Dmitry's corner was cleared off the line by Hinkel, who atoned for his earlier mistake, with Polish international Boruc beaten.
With seconds remaining it was Samaras who went on a mazy run in the Dynamo box before sending a low shot past Gabulov to seal a memorable win.
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