Published: 30 July, 2009, 10:50
Edited: 30 July, 2009, 10:50
In their first Champions League campaign in the Russian history, Dinamo Moscow have taken on Scottish giants Celtic on the road.
The blue and whites managed to grab an important win in the first leg of the third qualifying stage on Wednesday night, despite playing away from home, and without suspended captain and inspirational leader Dmitry Khoklov. Khokhlov was serving the final game of a three-match suspension he received in 2005, when he was sent off for an elbow while playing for Lokomotiv Moscow against Italian side Palermo in the UEFA Cup.
18-year-old Alexander Kokorin opened the scoring 7 minutes into the game, after a pass from Russian international and former Sevilla player Aleksander Kerzhakov, which remained the only goal of the match.
"I'm disappointed about the result obviously, but I'm still optimistic,” Celtic new manager Tony Mowbray told journalists after the game.
"There was enough evidence there to give us encouragement going into the second leg.
"They were well-structured, organized 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.
"This was a game we could easily have won if we had taken our chances," Mowbray believes.
Mowbray’s Dinamo counterpart, Andrey Kobelev, said, "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."
The second leg will be held in the Moscow region, at the Russian Premier League side Khimki’s home arena, on August 5.