Ronny Deila said he was delighted with his team’s fighting spirit as the Celts secured a massive win over Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Europa League. The Hoops scored early through Kris Commons after great link-up play between him and Stokes but were pushed back by the Croatian champions in the closing stages as Zagreb sought an equaliser. Last ditch tackles, great saves and towering headers from the Celtic defence helped make the points safe, and the manager praised his players’ determination throughout the game. “It was an important game today,” he said. “We knew that if we could win we could push the other teams in the group and get control in the group. “When you saw the second half, they were better than us and they had their chances. In the first half we had the chances but it was even possession. “We started the game very well with good pressure and we also had a fantastic goal. “The first half was very good but in the second half we got tired and couldn’t keep up the pressure or keep the ball. “But in the end, it was fantastic team spirit and we worked really hard and defended fantastically. They didn’t get a lot of chances even though they had the ball a lot so I’m pleased with that. “We have to take the team spirit and the fighting we did together with us, but also we need better passing and have to keep the ball for longer periods.” Dinamo went close to drawing level on several occasions but, once again, Celtic goalie Craig Gordon was in unbeatable form and pulled off a string of spectacular saves to keep the Hoops in front. Ronny Deila said the Scotland internationalists performances in the first two Europa League games underlined why it was important for teams to have a good goalkeeper, and said the rest of the side thanked Gordon after the match. He added: “Some of his saves were fantastic. The one-on-one between him and Eduardo was unbelievable and he made many vital saves. “I said to him in the dressing room afterwards that we have to thank him for keeping the clean sheet and helping us win the game.” Celtic now sit top of Group D but are on equal points with FC Salzburg, going into the next round of games against FC Astra.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 07:31:34 +0000