Celtic 0 - 2 Inter Milan: Inter's cynical lesson

MAYBE the constant references to Celtic's 1967 European Cup win - from pages in the programme to re-runs on the big screens in Dublin's Aviva Stadium - had Inter on a mission to settle old scores. By fair means or foul.

They certainly did so in an extraordinarily bad-tempered encounter that ensured the billing of the Dublin Super Cup as a "competition" was not a misnomer. One red card, for two bookable offences by a narked Thiago Motta inside only 44 minutes, and six bookings is almost unheard of in a glorified friendly. And the truth is that referee probably erred on the lenient side, although it wouldn't do not to acknowledge that Inter were capable of the classy and clinical as well as the clattering.

The boisterous nature of a healthy "home" crowd in a third-full Aviva might have played a part in creating an edge. The encounter produced a bonkers opening spell that could be described as the antidote to what are so often anodyne occasions. As a flavour of what was to come, inside 11 minutes we were treated to a goal of real craft, two bookings - one of which should have been a red card - a flare up and a substitution as the consequence of a nasty-looking injury. Inter plus Beram Kayal were the protagonists in the majority of these happenings.

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The Italians earned themselves a seventh-minute lead by slicing Celtic open down the right channel with 18-year-old Dutch striker Luc Castaignos exchanging passes with the excellent Goran Pandev before drilling a shot at the near post from 14 yards.

Swift and deadly, the quality of the play was otherwise often second to the quality of the needle. Kayal did something to upset opponents, who surrounded him just before the goal and embarked on a running feud with him after it. Motta earned himself a booking for fouling the Israeli and then shortly afterwards so did Dejan Stankovic, the Inter captain cynically kicking the Israeli, co-incidentally just minutes after Pandev gestured the Celtic midfielder had elbowed him. In between times, Yuto Nagatomo was left prone on the sidelines holding a shoulder that appeared to be dislocated.

After this breathless opening, Celtic created a flurry of opportunities courtesy of some crisp passing and movement to which lone striker Georgios Samaras was central and keeper Luca Castellazzi was equal. Twice he denied the Greek, on the second occasion then thwarting Joe Ledley from the rebound.

The half then ended as it began, with nastiness and an Inter goal. The former meant the end for Motta, who clattered into the back of Scott Brown after he had released the ball.Referee Damien Hancock wasn't messing, with the decision possibly borderline but he had clearly had enough of the niggle. Seconds later, as Hancock prepared to blow for the interval, Cristian Chivu clipped a ball forward that Kelvin Wilson and Lukasz Zaluska were slow to see, Giampolo Pazzini running on to it and lofting it over the advancing Celtic keeper.

The San Siro side's reduction to ten men for the second period was somewhat offset by their ability to introduce Wesley Schneider and Samuel Eto'o. Both seemed keen to be peacemakers but three bookings inside the first five minutes - Brown and Cha Du-ri getting involved with Davide Faraoni, who was booked for his altercation with the Korean - showed there was little appetite for calm. The heat gradually was taken out of the game as the inevitable procession of substitutions ensued and though the play increasingly flowed towards the Inter goal, unlike 1967, the Italians held the measure of their opponents.

Celtic: Zaluska; Cha (Matthews 67), Wilson, Loovens (Stokes 60), Izaguirre; Brown, Kayal, Ledley, Mulgrew; Maloney (Hooper 60); Samaras (McCourt 76).

Inter: Castellazzi; Ranocchia (Caldirola 86), Samuel, Chivu; Santon (Biancheti 78), Stankovic (Mariga 57), Motta, Nagatomo (Faroni 11); Pandev (Eto'o 46), Pazzini, Castaignos (Schneider 46).