Celtic moved to within one win of challenging for a spot in the knock out stages of the UEFA Champions League thanks to a superb 1-0 win over Spanish side Benfica at Celtic Park in Glasgow on Tuesday. Celtic boss Gordon Strachan will be pleased with his team's performance and will hope for more of the same in the remaining two games.

Gordon Strachan chose to retain the same team that beat Kilmarnock last weekend except he decided to Aiden McGeady to the left. The latter has come in for the injured Shunsuke Nakamura. McGeady made some early forays into the penalty area and unleashed some great crosses in the initial minutes, but it was Óscar Cardozo who had the game's first chance for Benfica.

He brushed off his markers and sent a left-footed shot on 7 minutes, but Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc was alert enough to parry it away. On 9 minutes Celtic almost went ahead through John Kennedy, but he sprayed his header inches wide off Paul Hartley's free-kick.

Scott Brown then unleashed a fine shot that tested Quim kept his composure to send the ball out for a corner. Scott McDonald tested Quim with two fine shots, but the latter was alert enough to push both away. Celtic's pressure finally bore fruit when McGeady was able to burst into the box and send in a fierce drive that deflected off Luisão into the Benfica goal.

After the break Jiří Jarošík proved to be a constant thorn in Benfica side. Coach José Camacho brought on Angel Di María for Maxi Pereira on 60 minutes, but the Spanish side was unable to equalize. Late on Binya paid for a high tackle on Brown when he was sent off. After this Benfica did make some forays into the Celtic penalty Edcarlos' header was cleared off the line.

However they were unable to break the shackles and Celtic eventually won 1-0. Celtic are third in Group D with 6 points from 4 games, while Benfica are fourth with three points from four games.

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