McDonald double helps Celtic thrash Al Ahly

Australia’s Scott McDonald scored twice as Celtic warmed up for their crucial Champions League qualifier against Dinamo Moscow by thrashing African champions Al Ahly 5-0 in the Wembley Cup on Friday.

Tony Mowbray’s side face Dinamo in the first leg at Parkhead on Wednesday and the Russians will have to mark special plans to stop McDonald after a typically dynamic display from the striker in the opening match of the pre-season tournament at England’s national stadium.

After Italian midfielder Massimo Donati opened the scoring, McDonald won and scored the first half penalty that put Celtic in control.

Shaun Maloney added a third after the break before McDonald struck again with a superb effort and New Zealand striker Chris Killen completed the rout late on.

A 15-minute cameo from England Under-21 defender Daniel Fox, signed from Coventry just hours earlier, gave former West Brom boss Mowbray further cause for optimism heading into his first season at Parkhead.

Celtic are back at Wembley on Sunday when they face Tottenham, whose first match of the tournament against Barcelona comes later Friday.

The Hoops were on top from the start. McDonald went close twice in quick succession before Fortune hit the bar and Maloney struck the post from the rebound.

Celtic eased ahead in the 31st minute after some woeful defending from Ahmed Ali allowed Donati to jink into the penalty area, round Amir Abdel Hameed and produce a cool finish.

Mowbray’s men increased their lead in the 39th minute after McDonald, running onto Aiden McGeady’s pass, was brought down in the penalty area by Abdel Hameed. The Australian dusted himself down and squeezed home the spot-kick via a post.

Maloney put the result beyond doubt four minutes after half-time when the winger drove in a clever near-post shot that left Abdel Hameed rooted to the spot.

It got even worse for Al Ahly as McDonald claimed his second goal with a curling strike in the 59th minute before Killen tapped home after 83 minutes.

Hossam El-Badry, the first Egyptian to take charge of Al Ahly for 17 years, could take nothing from his team’s half-hearted effort and he has plenty to work on before the Cairo club begin their bid for a sixth successive Egyptian championship.