Celtic end season on winning note with victory over Dundee
GLASGOW, May 11, (AFP): Celtic ended another successful Scottish Premiership season on a winning note on Sunday with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Dundee United at Parkhead.
The Hoops, who were finally presented with the Scottish Premiership trophy at the end of the match, had already had a Leigh Griffiths effort ruled out for offside before Anthony Stokes broke the deadlock in the 64th minute with his side’s 100th goal of the season.
Substitute Georgios Samaras then netted on his farewell appearance for the club as he converted a 76th minute penalty that the Greek striker had earned himself after being hauled down by keeper Radoslaw Cierzniak.
United pulled one back two minutes later through a Filip Twardzik own goal before Kris Commons made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute.
The Hoops, who celebrate three titles in a row, end the season on 99 points - 29 points clear of Motherwell in second place who dramatically leapfrogged Aberdeen with a last minute Craig Reid strike at Pittodrie to seal a 1-0 win.
Neil Lennon, who became only the fourth Celtic manager to win three league titles in a row, spoke of his pride in his players who were only beaten once in 38 league games.
“I’m really proud of the team and that they’ve finished off the season with a win and got over 100 goals. It feels better because it’s the third one,” Lennon said.
“Certainly in the second half of the season there’s been a real progress and improvement so it gives us a lot of encouragement to build on for next season.”
United manager Jackie McNamara, who rested a host of players ahead of next week’s Scottish Cup final said: “I thought we passed it well and were well organised. I’m not too disappointed because for spells we played well.
“The goals were disappointing but you’ve got to take that. The focus is next week but I thought today it was quite a professional performance.”
Despite the celebratory atmosphere in the stands there was a subdued start on the pitch with neither side creating any real chances early on.
It took until the half hour mark for Celtic to come to life when Twardzik’s ball into the box broke off a United player to Griffiths but the striker’s weak effort was straight to Cierzniak.
Cierzniak was then called into action to turn an ambitious Griffiths shot from a tight angle after the Scotland striker raced into the box from the right wing.
United should have found themselves ahead in the 52nd minute when El Alagui knocked an effort over the bar from couple of yards out after former Celtic defender Mark Wilson’s initial shot was blocked by Forster.
The Hoops then had the ball in the net a minute later when Griffiths applied a superb finish to Stefan Johansen’s through ball but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Commons forced Cierzniak into a save with a fierce strike before he turned provider as Stokes finally got the party started when he broke the deadlock in the 64th minute.
Scotland’s player of the year swung a cross over from the right to the back post where Stokes leapt to nod it back across goal and past Cierzniak for Celtic’s 100th goal of the season.
Forster then showed the type of form that is likely to lead to a place in the England World Cup squad when he made a superb save to turn a Stuart Armstrong strike round the post.
Celtic then doubled their advantage in the 76th minute when Samaras, on as a second half substitute, marked his final appearance at Celtic Park with a goal from the penalty spot.
Paderborn
seal
promotion: Little-known Paderborn sealed their first promotion to the Bundesliga on Sunday after coming from a goal down to beat Aalen 2-1 and cap a superb season to follow already-promoted Cologne to the top division.
The North Rhine-Westphalia club, created in 1985 after two local teams merged, has an annual budget of six million euros ($8.25 million), about half the salary of Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery, as Paderborn likes to say.
Goals from Marc Vucinovic and Mario Vrancic quickly turned the game around after Joel Pohjanpalo had put visitors Aalen ahead in the ninth minute.
The final whistle triggered wild scenes of celebration with fans and players on the pitch and in the stands.
Greuther Fuerth narrowly missed out on an automatic return to the Bundesliga, finishing third, two points behind Paderborn with 60 points, despite a 2-0 win over Sandhausen. (RTRS) Russian match abandoned: The match between Zenit St Petersburg and Dynamo Moscow has been abandoned after Zenit fans invaded the pitch and one of them attacked an opposition player.
Dynamo led 4-2 Sunday when the pitch invasion began in the 87th minute, a result that would hit Zenit’s hopes of winning the Russian Premier League title.
Broadcasts showed one of the fans running up to Dynamo defender Vladimir Granat and punching him in the head from behind.
Granat has a head injury, Dynamo’s sporting director Guram Adzhoev was quoted as saying in local media.
It remains unclear whether the score at the time will be considered the final result. (AP) Zanetti ends era: Inter Milan defender Javier Zanetti was given a rousing farewell by the club’s appreciate supporters after the 40-year-old Argentine ended an era by playing his final match at the San Siro on Saturday.
Zanetti came on as a 52nd minute substitute during a 4-1 win over Lazio that booked Inter’s place in the Europa League for next season, a final high for a player who was a rock of consistency in a topsy-turvy two decades at the club.
It was his 857th appearance for Inter since signing for the club in 1995, when he became Massimo Moratti’s first purchase as Inter president, and he could make one more in their final Serie A match of the season at Chievo next week. (RTRS)