published: wednesday 18 september 2013, 23.07cet ac milan 2-0 celtic fc
two goals in the final eight minutes broke the bhoys' resistance and secured an opening group h win for massimiliano allegri's men.
two late goals allowed ac milan to overcome an unfortunate celtic in their opening group h match, with an emilio ızaguirre own goal and sulley muntari's late strike settling an absorbing contest.
the hosts enjoyed a promising start but found neil lennon's men in resolute mood, before the visitors came close to taking the three points themselves after the break. however, as time ticked down a shot by cristián zapata was deflected into his own net by ızaguirre and muntari forced in a second to give the rossoneri a winning start.
mario balotelli had the first effort of the game after five minutes for massimiliano allegri's hosts, controlling a precise lofted pass from valter birsa but then failing to angle his powerful volley past fraser forster. with alessandro matri playing in the centre of milan's attack, balotelli had the freedom to move deeper, creating problems for the celtic defence with his clever positionining.
making his first start since joining milan, matri forced forster into another difficult save after 21 minutes when he connected powerfully with a cristian zaccardo cross from the right, while antonio nocerino also went close when he sent a dipping shot just over the bar.
celtic slowly dragged their way into it as the half progressed and threatened on the right flank where mikael lustig and adam matthews linked up fluidly. just before the interval, however, forster was again called into action to palm wide balotelli's shot which deflected dangerously off efe ambrose.
the visitors were more audacious after the break and went close when giorgos samaras flashed a right-footed shot from 20 metres just wide of christian abbiati's left post. milan, however, had a glorious opportunity on 63 minutes when muntari headed over from close range from a perfect kévin constant cross to the back post.
only a timely tackle by nigel de jong prevented scott brown from testing abbiati while anthony stokes hit the bar with a wonderful free-kick with ten minutes left. celtic appeared to be the side ending the stronger but two minutes later ızaguirre deflected a low shot by zapata past forster, before the keeper kept out balotelli's free-kick only to see muntari leap to meet the rebound and force over the line.
) 
