CELTIC’S Euro rivals Malmo suffered a 1-0 defeat to Hacken as they prepared to face the Hoops in Tuesday’s Champions League play-off second leg.
Boss Age Hareide made a number of changes to the starting line-up that played in Glasgow in Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat, although Jo Inge Berget, Markus Rosenberg and Vladimir Rodic all started for the Swedish champions.
Malmo conceded what proved to be the decisive goal with just 10 minutes left to play, when Martin Ericsson slotted home a finish between the legs of stand-in keeper Andreas Vindheim after poor defending at a corner-kick.
Top striker Rosenberg looked lively throughout, having missed the first leg against Celtic through suspension, but passed up a number of opportunities.
The Swedish international will start the game against Ronny Deila’s men, but, on this showing, he will need to sharpen his finishing touch in front of goal if he is to trouble the Celtic defence.
The defeat leaves Hareide’s side in fifth place, four points adrift of Swedish Allsvenskan leaders IFK Gothenburg, having also played a game more.
In contrast Celtic fielded a largely second string side in the away league fixture at Dundee United and their 3-1 victory saw them go to the top of the league, albeit for a few hours.
