UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HJK Helsinki 0 Celtic 2:CELTIC EASED into the Champions League play-offs thanks to goals from Joe Ledley and Georgios Samaras in their third qualifier against HJK Helsinki at the Sonera Stadium last night.
The Wales international bundled Charlie Mulgrew’s cross into the net in the 66th minute before Samaras scored a late goal to give the Scottish champions a 4-1 aggregate win and only their second away victory in Europe in 34 attempts.
Midfielder Victor Wanyama was red-carded in the second half after picking up the second of two yellow cards but that did not take away from the Hoops’ win which would could have been more convincing had skipper Scott Brown not missed an early sitter before Samaras passed up on a decent chance moments later.
However, manager Neil Lennon will be delighted to take one step closer to the lucrative group stages of European football’s elite club competition.
There had been a lot of focus on the artificial pitch but the Scottish champions slowly grew in confidence as the home side’s obvious limitations became clear and in the 12th minute Brown should have put the visitors ahead.
Mulgrew’s pass beat the HJK defence to find the Scotland midfielder but although his first touch was good, he missed the target from 12 yards.
Two minutes later Samaras took a Kris Commons pass but he fired wide of the far post from the edge of the box.
Gary Hooper had the ball in the net after 28 minutes but the flag was up for offside. Fraser Forster was called into action soon afterwards but only to make a comfortable save from Mika Vayrynen’s long-distance drive.
In the 43rd minute Gary Hooper rounded home goalkeeper Wallen but he ran too wide and the latter saved the angled drive at the second attempt.
HJK Helsinki came out for the start of the second half in more determined mood and within two minutes of the restart, 17-year-old striker Joel Pohjanpalo, on for injured Juho Makela, set up Sebastian Sorsa with a cross from the left but the defender’s shot missed the target by inches.
The visitors had a penalty claim in the 51st minute when Wanyama’s header at the back post from Commons’ free-kick appeared to strike the arm of HJK defender Timi Lahti. Just after the hour mark Forster made a good save from Mathias Lindstrom’s close-range header.
Celtic’s opening goal came when Mulgrew’s inswinging cross found Ledley who chested it past Wallen from a couple of yards out.
With 20 minutes remaining Wanyama was dismissed after picking up his second yellow card, this time for a foul on Vayrynen.
However, Samaras made sure of the win in the 86th minute when he took a pass from the tireless Ledley and fired low in to the far corner from 10 yards.
HJK HELSINKI: Wallen, Lahti, Lindstrom, Mannstrom (Zeneli 74), Vayrynen, Sumusalo, Perovuo (Sadik 69), Savage, Sorsa, Schuller, Pohjanpalo (Pelvas 78). Subs not used: Sahlgren, Kansikas, Okkonen, Hakanpaa.
CELTIC: Forster, Matthews, Izaguirre, Mulgrew, Rogne, Brown, Commons, (Forrest 74) , Ledley, Wanyama, Samaras (Murphy 88) Hooper (Kayal 74). Subs not used: Zaluska, Lustig, McCourt, Stokes.
Referee: R Schorgenhofer
