Glasgow Celtic Defeat Megabucks Manchester City Side in NextGen Series
On a freezing cold night at Celtic Park, the NextGen series rolled back into town to help showcase the talents of Europe's best under-19s. Tonight it was Manchester City's turn to visit Scotland's league winners from last season.
It was foggy in Glasgow but it didn't subdue the effort or skill shown by the players on the pitch in a hotly contested battle between two enterprising teams.
Celtic were the better of the two sides throughout and two first half goals put the Scottish side in the ascendancy, one from which they would ultimately not lose.
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The first came from an exceptional piece of skill on 33 minutes from Dylan McGeoch. He ducked and dove his way past four defenders, sending a daisycutter of a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner. City's Tom Halshall didn't have a chance.
Celtic compounded the English side's woes by scoring another right of brink of halftime.
From a corner on the left, captain Marcus Fraser found himself in space on the edge of the six-yard box. He controlled the ball before squeezing it in at the near post much to the delight of 2,500 fans that braved the cold to support their side.
The second half saw Manchester City push themselves more into the match. They lacked the killer touch up front despite the best efforts of midfielders Joan Roman & Albert Rusnack in providing space and opportunities.
Rusnak managed the breakthrough for the visitors on the 75th minute. After a short spell of pressure, he found some space on the edge of the box and placed home a well struck shot into the top right hand corner of the goal, giving his side a lifeline going into the last 15 minutes.
The equalizer never materialised for City and the Celts welcomed the three points in a tight group that sees them next visit Barcelona on November 24th before welcoming Marseille on December 7th.
Marc Roseblade is a contributor for Bleacher Report as well as Not Just Scottish Football and youth development reporter for Ayr United Football Academy. All quotes are obtained first hand unless otherwise stated.
