Scott Mcdonald’s Late Goal Beats Milan On A Night When Celtic Park Rose As One To Hail The Australian Striker And Dida Tried For An Oscar.
Wednesday 7 April 2007 is another red letter day in the modern history of Celtic; it was the night we claimed the scalp of AC Milan in the Champions League, and the night when Dida, the Milan goalkeeper, made a late bid to win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. His moment was the one the Scottish media chose to focus on, but it did not detract from a wonderful Celtic performance and McDonald’s predatory pounce.
What made this game special, and this goal particularly important, was that AC Milan were the reigning European champions, and beating them was a moment of huge importance for us. The game itself was not a classic, but the result sent our stock on the continent absolutely soaring, and fired a warning to any club who came calling at Parkhead.
We had taken the lead on the hour mark, via a corner kick that McManus, our captain that night and for that season, stuck away. We hadn’t held the lead for longer than six minutes when Lee Naylor fouled Ambrosini in the box. Kaka, who went on to be the world’s most expensive player, netted from the penalty spot.
Celtic were never going to settle for a point, not at home in front of the best fans in the world, but the match was in injury time when a Caldwell shot was fumbled by Dida. It fell to the feet of Skippy, who popped it into the net, to unleash bedlam.
During the celebrations a fan ran onto the pitch, and in a moment of sheer farce he ran past the keeper and gave him a tap on the head.
That’s all it was; a tap, but had a car backfired in that same moment people would have sworn blind that the Milan goalie had been shot.
He fell to the ground, holding his head, and rolled around like a sniper victim.
It was a piece of pure theatre, to distract from his own mistake, but it ought never to have happened in the first place and gave the media their cue to write about something other than the result.
But history will barely remember that; all the record books will show is that we beat the Champions of Europe with a 90th minute goal. Happy days!
