Horror injury to Dylan McGeouch casts shadow over Celtic’s defeat to Real Madrid

Celtic’s 2-0 friendly defeat from Real Madrid was overshadowed by a worrying head injury suffered by Dylan McGeouch.

Jumping for an innocuous looking challenge in the 71st minute he collided with the shoulder of Nuri Sahin and fell unconscious to the ground.

As the Real Madrid players signalled for immediate attention television cameras showed one of the players turning the midfielder onto his side and opening his mouth to ensure that he didn’t swallow his tongue

[Update McGeouch taken to hospital with suspected fractured jaw]

After a seven minute delay the player was removed from the pitch on a stretcher in a neck brace with Marcus Fraser coming on in his place.

Neil Lennon raced onto the pitch to see the extent of the injury with players on both sides looking visibly concerned as the remainder of the match was played out at pedestrian pace with Real winning 2-0.

Neil Lennon made five changes to the side that started in Helsinki with Lucasz Zakuska, Kelvin Wilson, McGeogh, Beram Kayal and  Daryl Murphy in the starting XI.

Youngsters Callum McGregor and Fraser were joined on the bench by Fraser Forster and Gary Hooper.

There was a blow for Celtic in the warm up when Anthony Stokes picked up a knock which saw Thomas Rogne come off the bench to partner Wilson with Charlie Mulgrew moving into midfield and Commons move forward to support Murphy.

The luck of the Irish was in short supply with Murphy coming off injured just past the half hour mark giving McGregor his top team debut with Commons pushed forward as the sole striker.

After a bright start where McGeough caught the eye with his willingness to push forward and pass the ball the Spanish champions orchestrated by Xavi Alonso began to test out the Celtic defence.

Real had showed in flashes what they were capable of and duly took the lead in the 21st minute when Callejon got the break of the ball off Rogne, touched the ball past Zaluska then rolled the ball into the empty net.

Without putting Real under any great pressure Celtic were pushing forward whenever they could with serial offender Sergio Ramos booked in the 41st minute for persistent fouling.

Celtic’s best chance of the first period fell in stoppage time when a driving run by Joe Ledley opened up the Real defence but the Welshman’s shot from 20 yards was too high to trouble Adan in the Real goal.

Real demonstrated their strength in depth by bringing on Karim Benzema at for the second half with Mesut Ozil amongst a handful of substitutes introduced in the 57th minute.

With only Hooper and Fraser remaining on the bench Lennon had no option but to stick with the players out on the pitch as they sweated their way through the second half in temperatures in the eighties.

In the 66th minute Benzema demonstrated the striking instinct that saw Real splash out £30m for his services when he  raced in on goal, turned Adam Matthews then shot low across Zaluska to put Real two goals up.

Despite a seven minute stoppage as McGeough was treated on the park the referee allowed just two minutes of extra time with everyone in the stadium and the millions watching on television more interested in the health of McGeough.

CELTIC  Zaluska; Matthews, K. Wilson, Rogne, Izaguirre: McGeouch (Fraser 78), Kayal, Ledley, Mulgrew: Commons, Murphy (McGregor 32)
Subs: Forster, Hooper, McGregor, Fraser 

REAL MADRID: Adan (Casillas 46); Arbeloa (Varane 57) Ramos (Nacho Fernadez 57), Albiol, Coentrao (Sahin 71); Khedira (Granero 46), Alonso (Diarra 57) Callejon (Di Maria 57) Kaka (Benzema 46) Ronaldo (Ozil 57) Higuain (Morata 71)
Not Used: Pepe, Fernandez Collado, Rodriguez, A. Fernandez