2009-08-08: Manchester City 2-1 Celtic, Friendly

Manchester City redeemed their disappointing defeat to Rangers earlier in the week, beating Celtic at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Gareth Barry opened the scoring for the Citizens early in the first half, but Celtic were level in under 10 minutes from a goal from ex-Citizen Chris Killen, who scored in the 24th minute.

Craig Bellamy, who started in place of Emmanuel Adebayor, scored early in the second half to earn Manchester City the victory. Before Carlos Tevez made his first appearance in sky blue, playing for 25 minutes at the end of the game.

The first half started brightly with attacks at either end before City opened the scoring with a move started by Kolo Toure. The ex-Gunner fed in Pablo Zabaleta on the flank who crossed first time into the penalty area. Barry ran onto the ball and volley it home with the side of his left foot on the six yard line.

Unfortunately for the Citizen’s it was Toure’s last input to the match as he was withdrawn with an injury, to be replaced by Tal Ben-Haim.

Minutes later Shay Given was making an excellent save to deny Celtic an opportunity from a corner, but City didn’t heed the warning and their opponents equalised in the 24th minute. Two former Manchester City players combined as Georgios Samaras played the ball to Killen, whose run beat the offside trap, and the striker smashed the ball past Given from close range.

Robinho flittered in and out of the game, but his best moment came minutes before half time as he terrorised his full-back, cutting inside from the left before arching a curling drive goal wards. The Brazilian’s shot was wayward and the keeper watched it safely past the far post.

The second half saw Adebayor replace Nigel De Jong as manager Mark Hughes experimented with his formation. Reverting to a 4-4-2 having played a 4-5-1 in the first half.

His change freed Craig Bellamy to play more off the shoulder of the last defender and this had an immediate effect six minutes into the half, as Wayne Bridge released the Welshman with a fine pass with the out-step of his left boot.

Bellamy latched onto the through pass, feigned in one direct before cutting back onto his right foot and rifling the ball into the bottom corner past keeper Zaluska.

Celtic responded almost immediately with the two former City players combining once again, as Killen found space in the right-hand side of the box. The Kiwi crossed into the middle where Samara was waiting but the forward couldn’t quite make contact with the ball and the chance went begging.

The biggest cheer of the day greeted Carlos Tevez as he replaced goal scorer Bellamy in the 66th minute. The Celtic fans weren’t impressed and were even less amused when Scott McDonald wasted a free header from a corner, that was sent flying over the crossbar.

Manager Tony Mowbray made a variety of changes after this point, and one of them – Daniel Fox – looked lively towards the end of the game, testing Given with a whipped free-kick in the 80th minute.

Celtic had one more opportunity before the game closed, with Simon Ferry scuffing a shot well wide in the final minutes.

Celtic will be hoping they have more success the next time they meet English opposition, as they face Arsenal in the Champions League qualifier on the 18th August.