in the first leg of their Champions League play-off
clash.
Celtic opened the scoring after just five minutes,
when Callum McGregor poked the ball into an
empty net after some persistent play from Jo Inge
Berget on the left-flank.
Less than ten minutes later, the Slovenian side
levelled the scores through a tidy Damjan Bohar
finish, who burst the offside trap to collect a superb
Zeljko Filipovic through-ball and place it under a
sprawling Craig Gordon.
Hoops skipper Charlie Mulgrew and defender Virgil
van Dijk came close before the interval as the
Scottish champions showed a marked improvement
on their Legia Warsaw performances, where they
were beaten 6-1 on aggregate in the third qualifier
before the Polish side's disqualification.
Maribor came out with more purpose at the start of
the second half in the Ldjuski vrt stadium but it was
Celtic's Stefan Johansen who passed up a great
chance to win the game when he stumbled in the
area after bursting past a couple of challenges.
The Bhoys had Gordon to thank, however, with the
former Sunderland stopper keeping out numerous
chances - notably Ales Mertelj's stinging 30-yard
drive in the latter stages of the game.
Deila's men will now be in pole position for group
stage qualification, with the Scottish side set to
entertain their Slovenian counterparts at Celtic Park
in the return leg next Tuesday.
Deila dropped last season's top scorer Kris
Commons to the bench, replaced by Beram Kayal,
while right-back Mikael Lustig came in for Efe
Ambrose, who joined up with the squad late after it
was originally believed he was suspended for
the game.
In the fifth minute, midfielder Johansen's raking
pass picked out Jo Inge Berget on the left and when
he got his shot in at the second attempt, Maribor
goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic could only palm the
ball to 21-year-old McGregor - who slammed
in from eight yards for his third European away
goal this season.
Maribor looked shaky in the following minutes but
their lifeline came when Zeljko Filipovic split the
Hoops defence wide, allowing Bohar to ignore a
foul on Maribor skipper Tavares and go through
and slip the ball past Parkhead keeper Craig
Gordon.
Mulgrew almost restored the Hoops' lead in the 21st
minute when he got his head on to a Johansen
corner - but Filipovic cleared to safety.
Moments later, from another Johansen corner,
Lustig headed over at the back post, while Gordon
made a decent save from Petar Stojanovic's angled
drive at the other end.
Just after the half-hour mark, Parkhead stopper van
Dijk beat Handanovic with a header from an
Anthony Stokes corner, only to see the ball rebound
off Johansen - who was on the line and
consequently flagged offside.
The home side could have gone in front four
minutes from the break when Gordon parried a
long-distance drive from Agim Ibraimi into the air -
but Dare Vrsic volleyed high over the bar.
Stokes had the ball in the Maribor net early in the
second half but even he knew it was from an offside
position, before Tavares fired a yard over the
bar from the edge of the box after being set up by
Vrsic, the first sign that the home side had upped
the tempo.
Celtic looked happy to contain the Slovenian
champions but Gordon had to make a fine save in
the 59th minute from Ibraimi's powerful header,
after Hoops left-back Emilio Izaguirre had
needlessly conceded possession.
There was a Hoops penalty claim soon afterwards
when Stokes' header from a McGregor cross
appeared to strike the hand of Maribor stopper
Aleksander Rajcevic - but Czech referee Pavel
Kralovec was unimpressed.
As the home side loosened their grip on the game,
Stokes twice shot wide, the second time just inches
past the post - but Johansen should have scored
when he was sent clean through on goal by Kayal
but he lost control of the ball,allowing Handanovic
to gather.
As Celtic finished strongly, Handanovic made a
decent save from van Dijk after Kayal had gone
down in the box under a challenge by Mitja Viler,
another penalty claim ignored.
With seven minutes remaining Gordon had another
impressive save from Ibraimi before surviving a late
burst of pressure from the home side.
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