Five-star Dukla down Celtic

04 July 2015 02:01

Celtic suffered a setback to their Champions League preparations as they conceded five goals to Dukla Prague.

Dukla, who finished sixth in the Czech top flight last season, were well worth their 5-3 friendly victory at St Mirren Park as a strong Celtic side conceded sloppy goals and struggled to get going up front.

Celtic beat Dukla in the 1967 European Cup semi-finals but their opponents gave Ronny Deila plenty to mull over as he prepares for their latest assault on Europe's elite competition, which begins on July 15 against Stjarnan, whose manager Runar Pall Sigmundsson watched in Paisley.

Celtic reintroduced nine players who were involved in international duty last month, seven of them into the starting line-up, although there was no sign of Israel midfielder Nir Bitton.

But it was Czech midfielder Marek Hanousek who stole the show with a hat-trick and an assist.

Also missing was Stuart Armstrong, who suffered a dead leg in the 2-0 friendly win over Den Bosch on Wednesday, while new signing Saidy Janko stayed on the bench.

Celtic fell behind in the 13th minute when Hanousek fired a first-time shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards after Dedryck Boyata had given the ball away.

Leigh Griffiths came close with some decent long-range efforts before levelling from the spot after Mikael Lustig had been pushed over as he ran on to Stefan Johansen's flick.

But Hanousek struck again at the second attempt in the 38th minute after Emilio Izaguirre failed to deal with a diagonal ball.

The tall midfielder soon thundered a strike off the bar from 22 yards but Celtic equalised two minutes before the break. Johansen chipped the ball over the Dukla back four, Gary Mackay-Steven brought it down beautifully and fired into the corner from 12 yards.

Hanousek did get his hat-trick early in the second half when he despatched a penalty after Charlie Mulgrew had committed a foul while racing back following substitute goalkeeper Leo Fasan's poor kick-out.

Johansen had a shot saved after a one-two with Mackay-Steven but Celtic fell further behind when Jakub Mares found space in the box to glance Hanousek's cross into the far corner.

Fasan continued to struggle with the ball at his feet and Dukla had a goal disallowed for offside before Virgil van Dijk headed home Johansen's free-kick.

But Tomas Prikryl restored the two-goal lead when he curled home from 16 yards.

Source: PA