Celtic players behaved like pigs, says Malmo keeper

MALMO goalkeeper Johan Wiland has accused Celtic’s players of acting like pigs during the Champions League play-off first leg in Glasgow.
Celtic's Scott Brown exchanges words with Malmo's Yoshimar Yotun. Picture: SNSCeltic's Scott Brown exchanges words with Malmo's Yoshimar Yotun. Picture: SNS
Celtic's Scott Brown exchanges words with Malmo's Yoshimar Yotun. Picture: SNS

Wiland says the Swedish side were provoked throughout the match which Celtic won 3-2. He was particularly critical of Leigh Griffiths, who scored twice for Ronny Deila’s side.

The keeper’s team-mate, Rasmus Bengtsson, also criticised the Scottish champions’ behaviour, singling out Scott Brown and Nadir Ciftci.

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“They are pigs, all of them, that’s the way it is,” Wiland told the Swedish newspaper Kvallsposten. “You just have to try to stay cool and do what we have to do on the pitch. Leigh Griffith, well I don’t know what to say, he behaved like a child, tugging shirts all the time.”

Bengtsson, a defender with Malmo, told another paper, Sportbladet: “There were some players who talked a lot. You probably know who I mean. They have a captain [Brown] and a few others who like to talk. But that’s the way it is at this level. One player who came on [Ciftci] was not particularly nice. The first thing he wanted to do when he came on was talk. He had more focus on that than his performance.”

The Scottish champions raced into a two-goal lead in just 10 minutes at Parkhead through goals from Griffiths and Nir Bitton, and they could have been out of sight by the break.

However, Jo Inge Berget, who had a short and unsuccessful loan spell at Parkhead last season, pulled a goal back in the 52nd minute.

And although Griffiths headed in his second in the 61st minute to make it 3-1, Berget pounced again in the fifth of five added minutes to make the prospect of the return match in Sweden on Tuesday more fraught than it ought to have been.