Celtic Hold Milan To A Draw In The Champions League

And The Bhoys Score In The Nick Of Time To Beat Caley-Thistle

Celtic battled to a scoreless draw against AC Milan, leaving the battle for a Champions League quarterfinal place wide open. Celtic will head to Italy next week for the return leg and it will be an enormous challenge for Celtic to bag a win at the San Siro. Milan enjoyed the better attacking chances and the closest the sides came to breaking the deadlock was halfway through the first half, when Kaka split open the defense with a pass to Alberto Gilardino. The Italian's shot was denied by goalkeeper Artur Boruc. Nakamura had Celtic's two best chances, both resulting from set pieces taken by the Japanese midfielder.

After the game Celtic manager Gordon Strachan seemed pleased with the result: "We look at it and see eight games over the two nights and only two teams who won at home PSV Eindhoven and Real Madrid. Roma feel they have got a great result at home against Lyon 0-0 so I think we've done alright. I went home and watched Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid v Bayern Munich, all those great names and thought: 'we're involved in all that'. I've got Darren O'Dea, Mark Wilson, Aiden McGeady, Evander Sno, Stephen McManus, who we didn't think would be at this level. We have a lot to be proud of."

Celtic snatched a 2-1 win at Inverness Caledonian Thistle with an injury time winner from Kenny Miller. Caley took a first half lead when Graham Bayne score on 19 minutes. Shunsuke Nakamura nearly equalized after 54 minutes when he blasted a shot against the left juncton of post and bar. Steven Pressley finally drew Celtic level, heading into the net from close range at the left post after 89 minutes. Then Miller booked their semi-final slot with a fine low shot from the edge of the box.

After the game Gordon Strachan admitted he was becoming worried before two late goals gave Celtic a 2-1 victory. "I had to make changes near the end, some of them desperate," said the Celtic manager. "But desperate times require desperate measures. With five minutes to go, and after the equalizer, I was happy to settle for the draw and a replay. But the players said no and I'm just glad they are on my side." Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura broke a bone in his left hand during the 2-1 Scottish Cup quarter-final win at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. A club spokeswoman said: "Hopefully he will not miss any games. We will know the full extent of the injury later in the week."

Reports claim AC Milan are hoping to sign Celtic keeper Artur Boruc. The Serie A side are on the lookout for a keeper with No.1 Dida set to quit at the end of the season on a Bosman and Manager Carlo Ancelotti has drawn up a list of targets including Polish star Boruc

Milan have blamed Celtic for causing the illness of four of their star players - because of the cold showers at Parkhead! Vice-President Adriano Galliani revealed that Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Yoann Gourcuff and Massimo Ambrosini were all in bed with flu symptoms last week. The club doctor maintains the illness was caused by the cold showers in the Parkhead locker room after the draw in Glasgow. While the players were still in the post-match shower, a fire alarm went off that automatically cut the supply of hot water.

Falkirk have lost out to Cork City for former Celtic midfielder Colin Healy. Healy had been on trial at Falkirk after leaving Barnsley last month. Falkirk had expressed an interest in signing Healy, but Cork City have lured him back to his native Ireland.