Celtic began their Wembley Cup campaign in impressive fashion, securing a 5-0 victory over Al-Ahly.
Five-star Celtic hammer Al-Ahly
Celtic began their Wembley Cup campaign in impressive fashion on Friday, securing a 5-0 victory over Al-Ahly.
Massimo Donati started the rout shortly after the half-hour mark, before Shaun Maloney, Chris Killen and a brace from the lively Scott McDonald rounded off a comfortable evening's work.
Tony Mowbray's men controlled proceedings from the off and would have been ahead inside 10 minutes had McDonald not been denied by some impressive goalkeeping.
Al-Ahly offered little in terms of an attacking threat, with Artur Boruc's only work inside a quiet first half coming when he was required to block a low drive from Francis Forkey.
Marc-Antoine Fortune was unfortunate to see a clever spinning effort cannon back off the crossbar on 28 minutes, but three minutes later the Hoops were in front.
Some sloppy defending from Al-Ahly was duly punished by the Glasgow giants as Donati skipped past a couple of lame challenges and rounded Abdel Hameed Hassan to slot home.
On 38 minutes Tony Mowbray's men doubled their lead when McDonald was tripped by Hassan inside the box and stepped up to slot the resulting penalty in off the inside of the post.
Celtic could have been forgiven for easing off after the interval, but just four minutes into the second half Maloney made it three as he was left in acres of space to hammer a well disguised effort past the hapless Hassan.
Mohammed Abou-Treka wasted Al-Ahly's best opportunity to salvage something from the game on 55 minutes and he was made to pay three minutes later as Celtic added a fourth.
McDonald was allowed to drift into the corner of the box and the Australian had the Wembley crowd on their feet as he proceeded to lift a delightful curling effort into the top corner of the net.
The SPL outfit were not done yet, though, and seven minutes from time substitute Killen put the seal on a comprehensive success as he beat the Egyptians' offside trap to sweep in a drilled cross from the right.
