Malmo goalkeeper Johan Wiland was so disgusted by the behaviour of Celtic’s players during the Champions League play-off first leg between the two teams at Celtic Park on Wednesday night, that he described them as acting like “pigs” and “children”.
Celtic won 3-2 but in a match characterised by numerous on-field spats, the Malmo players were critical of the conduct of their opponents.
“They are pigs, all of them, that’s the way it is,” Wiland told Kvallsposten. “You just have to try to stay cool and do what we have to do on the pitch. Leigh Griffiths [who scored twice for Celtic], well, I don’t know what to say, he behaved like a child, tugging shirts all the time.”
The Malmo defender Rasmus Bengtsson told Sportbladet: “There were some players who talked a lot. You probably know who I mean. They have a captain [Scott Brown] and a few others who like to talk. But that’s the way it is at this level. One player who came on [Nadir Ciftci] was not particularly nice. The first thing he wanted to do when he came on was to talk. He had more focus on that than his performance. And I don’t think it was to their advantage that they were running around focusing on other things.”
Jo Inge Berget, a former Celtic player and the scorer of the injury time goal that reduced the arrears, was less critical of his former teammates.
“I don’t want to say that they are a group of pigs,” he said. “They have some tough players. We knew before the game that it would be tough so you just have to roll with it.”
The return leg will be played on August 25 in Malmo.
