legia ease past celtic and into play-offs published: wednesday 6 august 2014, 23.30cet celtic fc 0-2 legia warszawa (agg: 1-6) michał Żyro and michał kucharczyk took legia a step closer to a first group stage appearance since 1995/96.
by mark walker from murrayfield
legia warszawa stunned celtic fc at murrayfield, michał Żyro and michał kucharczyk scoring in a 2-0 victory, with friday's uefa champions league play-off draw beckoning for the polish title-holders.
legia displayed composure in front of goal for both strikes as Żyro ran through on goal to slot past fraser forster on 36 minutes before kucharczyk rounded off a fine move just after the hour mark to extinguish any hope ronny deila's men had of retrieving a dire situation. the hoops will hope for better as they head for the uefa europa league.
celtic's main threat looked to be coming from their right flank in the early stages of the first half as adam matthews, the full-back, and callum mcgregor combined to test the legia defence. however, it was hardly against the run of play when a ball over the celtic defence invited Żyro to hold off the challenge of emilio izaguirre and fire a low shot past forster from the edge of the area.
the home side started the second half with renewed vigour but legia goalkeeper dušan kuciak was a match for anthony stokes's curling effort on 50 minutes and, moments later, kris commons could only volley wide from captain charlie mulgrew's long pass.
legia then produced a classy move to complete a 6-1 aggregate victory. captain ivica vrdoljak found Żyro with a pass from the right wing, and the goalscorer weighted a brilliant first-time ball into the path of kucharczyk, who held his nerve to round forster and roll the ball into an empty net.
