Commons: I thought about dinking my penalty!

Kris Commons has revealed that he thought about dinking his penalty against Spartak Moscow.

The midfielders goal paved the way for Celtic to enter the last 16 of the Champions League with manager Neil Lennon unable to watch the drama from the dug out!

Commons believed that Benfica were losing to Barcelona and that his penalty was simply to tie up Celtic’s place in the last 16!

Celtic have been dogged by penalty problems over the last few years but the thought of Commons attempting a Pirlo-style penalty would have sent some fans over the edge.

“I said to the lads that when I put the ball down I did not know whether to go to the keeper’s left or smash it down the middle,” he recalled

“I took a step on the way to the run up and thought about watching to see if he dived early and dinking it but on my second step I just decided to smash it. It went in off the underside of the bar, so I cut it fine — very fine!

“It’s amazing we thought Barca were winning when they were not, all because of the roar from the crowd.

“I had no idea Benfica were drawing. We got the impression Barca were ahead.

“All the crowd were cheering and we looked around at each other thinking ‘Barca must have scored’.

“They were singing ‘Xavi’ or ‘Messi’ or something, so we thought they had gone 1-0 up and we would just have to hold out for a draw.

“When we got the penalty Georgios Samaras and Lassad were the closest to the ball and they were discussing it between them, but as soon as they saw me I said ‘I will take it’.

“When I put the ball down I wasn’t thinking ‘This is to take us into the last 16’. It definitely helped me that I thought Barca were winning.

“It is the sort of stuff you dream about as a boy. It is one thing to do it in training, and another thing to do it in a game when there is so much at stake.”

CLICK HERE for Commons horror injury- picture

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