Celtic prepare for Euro test with Wembley Cup win

Celtic enjoyed the perfect preparation for this week’s crucial Champions League qualifier against Dinamo Moscow as the Scottish club defeated Tottenham 2-0 to win the Wembley Cup on Sunday.

Tony Mowbray’s side go into the first leg against the Russians at Parkhead on Wednesday in fine form after following Friday’s 5-0 victory over African champions Al Ahly with another impressive performance in the pre-season tournament at England’s national stadium.

New Zealand striker Chris Killen opened the scoring for a Celtic team showing 10 changes from the Al Ahly match and Georgios Samaras added a second before half-time.

Celtic’s victory meant they finished the four-club competition in first place ahead of Barcelona, who beat bottom team Al Ahly earlier Sunday.

There was much less to enjoy for Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, who has seen his side out-played by both Barcelona and Celtic’s reserves over the course of the Wembley Cup.

Redknapp had spent much of the last week bemoaning injuries to Jonathan Woodgate, Ledley King and Michael Dawson that left him desperately short of experience in defence.

It took just nine minutes for Celtic to expose the soft centre at the heart of Tottenham’s rearguard.

Paul Caddis teased Benoit Assou-Ekotto and whipped a cross towards Killen. As Pascal Chimbonda and Dorian Dervite stood and watched, Killen took full advantage of their slack marking to bury a header past Heurelho Gomes.

Tottenham should have been level moments later when Tom Huddlestone’s tackle ran through to Robbie Keane. The Spurs captain slipped a pass to Darren Bent and he had a clear run on goal but shot straight at Lukasz Zaluska.

Bent is wanted by Sunderland but if Black Cats boss Steve Bruce was watching at home he might have been thinking again after Bent squandered another chance, this time heading over from close-range.

With finishing like that it is easy to see why Redknapp is keen to complete deals for Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Portsmouth’s Peter Crouch.

Redknapp’s problems in defence persisted as well. In the 40th minute, Samaras turned Dervite inside his own half and sprinted clear of the Spurs back four before smashing a blistering shot past Gomes.

Although there were eight Spurs changes at half-time, including the introductions of Jermain Defoe, Luka Modric and Roman Pavlyuchenko, it was Celtic who went close to increasing their lead after 46 minutes.

Paddy McCourt picked up possession 40 yards from goal and embarked on a rampaging run past five players that left him with just Carlo Cudicini to beat.

Unfortunately for McCourt the accurate of his shot didn’t match the grace of his run.

Darren O’Dea made two brave blocks to deny Defoe and Modric as Tottenham found some attacking impetus.

It is that kind of heroic defending that explains why Celtic haven’t conceded a goal in four pre-season friendlies and the Hoops back-four never gave Spurs another serious chance to get back in the game.