Malmo overturn a one goal deficit to qualify for the Champions League group stages. Goals from Markus Rosenburg and Felipe Carvalho gave the Swedes a 4-3 aggregate win over Scottish Champions, Celtic.

Celtic's defensive frailties proved to be the Glaswegian outfit's downfall in the second leg, with both goals being conceded due to poor marking at set pieces.

Malmo pressed forward in search of an aggregate lead with real intent in the opening stages of the first half. Former Celtic man Jo Inge Berget, proved to be a thorn in his former employers’ side once again, coming close to scoring his third goal of the tie inside the opening five minutes. After cutting in from the left flank Berget unleashed a venomous right foot effort on goal, which flew just wide of the right post.

Rosenburg opens the scoring

The home side grabbed the all-important first goal of the game through their returning captain, Markus Rosenburg, in 23rd minute. The veteran rose highest at the front post from a Victor Yotun corner kick, to head the ball over Craig Gordon and into the top left corner of the net. 

In the dying embers of the first half, Celtic thought they had re-taken the aggregate lead when Nir Bitton poked the ball into the net from six yards, after a Charlie Mulgrew corner kick was not effectively cleared by the Malmo defence. The goal however was ruled out by the referee, who deemed an innocuous challenge by Leigh Griffiths on Malmo goalkeeper, Johan Willand, worthy of penalisation.  

Moments later, Malmo were denied a second goal of the game by the outstanding Craig Gordon. After Rosenburg had back-heeled the ball into his path, Vladimir Rodic rifled a ferocious effort on goal from the right of the penalty area. However, the Celtic number one was on hand to palm the ball just over the crossbar, to ensure that his team went into the half-time interval just one goal behind. 

At the start of the second half, Gordon once again came to the Hoops’ rescue. The Scottish international could only parry Berget’s effort from the right of the penalty area out as far as 18-yard line, where Markus Rosenburg was on hand to follow up with a sliding right footed effort. Gordon was able to recover from his first save to, incredibly, palm Rosenburg’s subsequent strike just over the crossbar. 

Carvalho doubles Malmo's lead

From the resulting corner kick however, Malmo doubled their advantage. Substitute Felipe Carvalho, inexplicably found himself unmarked at the near post from the Yotun set piece to flick the ball to the back post. Dedryck Boyata’s attempts to clear the ball before it crossed the line proved to be in vein, as he inadvertently sliced the ball off the post and over the goal line.  

In need of two goals to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stages, Celtic introduced Gary Mackay-Steven and Nadir Chifti, and began to press forward in numbers. Despite being in dire need of two goals however, the Scottish champions largely failed to test Willand in the Malmo goal. There was a surprising lack of urgency to get the ball into the penalty area shown throughout the final fifthteen minutes, as the Hoops looked to be consigned to defeat. 

Malmo find their UEFA Champions League group stage opponents on Thursday evening; while Celtic will go into the Europa League group stages.

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About the author
Jack  Gallagher
Member of the VAVEL writing team since June 2012, and became editor-in-chief of the UK edition in June 2013. English and History at QUB.