CELTIC 0-1 DINAMO MOSCOW
Bhoys in trouble
Tony Mowbray was handed a harsh dose of reality in his first competitive game as Celtic boss as his side crashed 1-0 to Dinamo Moscow in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round clash at Parkhead.
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Georgios Samaras rues a missed chance
Alexander Kokorin's seventh-minute strike gave the Russian club a clear advantage ahead of next week's return game in Moscow.
The Dinamo frontman was sharpest to Alexander Kerzhakov's cross from the left to slip the ball past Hoops' keeper Artur Boruc and, while the home side battled for the rest of the game and created several decent chances, it was to no avail.
Celtic's pre-season form, which saw them unbeaten in four games without the loss of a goal, had offered false optimism to the Hoops' fans who now face the very real prospect of dropping down to the less prosperous and less prestigious Europa League.
It took only seven minutes for the Parkhead supporters and Mowbray to be handed a reality check by the visitors, who, with 15 Russian league games under their belt, looked sharp from the kick-off.
From Kerzhakov's cross, Kokorin nipped in to toe-poke between Artur Boruc's legs from around six yards to silence Celtic Park.
The Parkhead side struggled to cope with the sheer speed of Dinamo and, in the 14th minute, Dinamo midfielder Dmitry Kombarov all too easily whipped a terrific ball in from the left only to see his twin brother Kirill Kombarov's volley slip just inches past Boruc's right-hand post.
Celtic's first real effort on goal came midway through the first half but Marc-Antoine Fortune's turn and drive from 10 yards was easily saved by Dinamo keeper Vladimir Gabulov.
Mowbray's men continued to battle although Fortune was not having the best of luck. His back-post volley, after Aiden McGeady's cross from the right had ended up at his feet, was easily saved by Gabulov.
However, just 60 seconds later, in the 27th minute, the former Nancy striker missed a sitter from three yards when Shaun Maloney set him up, Fortune failing to hit the target as he stretched at the far post.
It was a compelling, enthralling game. Dinamo's Australia midfielder Luke Wilkshire had another long-range effort on goal after the Celtic midfield temporarily went missing, seconds before Scott McDonald's point-blank drive at the other end was parried by Gabulov.
The Glasgow giants finished the first half on top but Massimo Donati's hopeful long-range drive, which went yards over, was symptomatic of their threat.
Celtic came out after the break needing to score at least two to boost their chances in next week's second leg in Moscow.
And with little more than a minute played of a whirlwind restart, Dinamo stopper Denis Kolodin had to clear McDonald's header off the line after the Australia international had leapt at the back post to knock Maloney's cross past Gabulov.
The Parkhead side had picked up the pace of the game but, in throwing players forward, they left themselves open to the counter although the visitors appeared happy to sit and hold their lead.
A blue defensive wall met the Celtic players as they pushed and probed and, in Kerzhakov, Dinamo had the perfect out-ball.
Mowbray replaced McDonald and Fortune with Chris Killen and Georgios Samaras on the hour mark in a move that signalled a hint of desperation and a change of tactics, to a more robust approach.
Danny Fox then replaced Donati to make his competitive Celtic debut after signing from Coventry at the weekend but the home fans were becoming increasingly irate as the second half unfolded.
The hosts pushed with less conviction with each passing minute, typified in the 74th minute when Fox headed high over from Andreas Hinkel's searching cross, before Killen headed wide from a Fox corner.
With five minutes remaining Boruc was called in to action to make a fine block from Dinamo substitute Fedor Smolov, on for Kokorin, seconds before Samaras headed in to the arms of Gabulov.
When the final whistle sounded, it may just also have signalled the end of Celtic's Champions League hopes this season.
Celtic manager Tony Mowbray remains defiantly optimistic about progress in the Champions League despite a 1-0 defeat by Dinamo Moscow in the first leg of their third qualifier at Parkhead.
He said: "I'm disappointed about the result obviously but I'm still optimistic. There was enough evidence there to give us encouragement going into the second leg.
"They were well-structured, organised and always a threat on the break yet I believe that we have the quality to go there and cause them problems and score a goal.
"Tonight was a game we could easily have won if we had taken our chances. It will be interesting to see how they set up, they don't have to force the game so we have to wait and see if we can take some of the chances as opposed to the chances that we missed tonight.
"I would expect us to have enough of the ball to create chances over there. I would hope that the players would take those chances.''
Mowbray refused to blame Fortune's first-half miss from Shaun Maloney's cross for the disappointing result.
The Celtic boss said: "Shaun Maloney missed a good opportunity as did Georgios Samaras so we can't blame one player. The team missed opportunities.''
Maloney was also defiant in defeat, saying: "The feeling in the dressing room is that the tie is not dead, that's for sure.
"We created enough chances and that's the positive we have to take out of it. I should have scored, we should have scored with Marc in the first half and with Georgios' header.
"It's unfortunate that we didn't take our chances and it keeps coming back to that. It's going to take a massive effort but I don't think it's beyond us.
"The manager was pretty pleased with the chances we made, he wasn't despondent in the dressing room afterwards. We will wait and see how it develops over there.''
Dinamo coach Andrey Kobelev was taking nothing for granted, playing down the significance of their victory and away goal. He said: "Celtic are a good team, they play regularly in the Champions League and they proved that so we expect a tough game in the second leg.
"Even if it was 1-0 or 2-0 then the second game would still be difficult. History has shown that teams have had 3-0 wins from the first leg but the second game was difficult for them.
"But we have a Russian Premier League game before then which is important and then we will think about the second game against Celtic.''
