Thursday, November 29, 2007

Strachan hails Bravehearts

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan hailed the "sheer guts" of his players after Massimo Donati's injury-time winner sunk Shakhtar Donetsk to keep the Hoops' UEFA Champions League hopes alive.
Strachan's side suffered a nightmare start, going down to Brandao's fourth-minute strike and losing defenders John Kennedy and Lee Naylor to injury.
But the fiery Scot paid tribute to a big-hearted comeback that left Donati the last-gasp hero after a Jarosik equaliser.
"In different games we have had to think, really play well technically but for sheer guts that's as good as it gets," Strachan said.
"Just when you think you have seen it all, you think about every scenario, but you can never know what's going to happen.
"Losing a stupid goal, ending up with a midfielder playing left-back, a centre-half at right-back [Gary Caldwell] and someone who has not played for five months who is 34 [Steven Pressley].
Heart
"How did we win the game? The simple answer is with a huge heart."
Celtic now need just a point from their game against Milan to progress to the last 16, but Strachan refused to get carried away with the win.
"It has put us in a great position," he admitted.
"We cannot ask for any more from the players but what happens elsewhere we can't deal with. We have had another smashing campaign this year."

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