Football: No.1 hero Artur was bang out of order with slap

Sep 2 2007 ANDY WALKER

LIKE everyone else who watched the game on TV, I was totally enthralled by it.

Celtic's exceptional victory over Spartak Moscow that fired them into the Champions League was an unforgettable night of drama and right up until the last kick of the ball it could have gone either way.

In a game that had everything one of the biggest talking points after the Hoops' incredible victory over a very impressive Spartak side was the astonishing bust up between Artur Boruc and Lee Naylor just before half time (below).

Let's get the pat on the back out of the way first.

During the 120 minutes of play Boruc was inspirational.

Without him I doubt Celtic would have won this crucial qualifier.

To then follow it up with two penalty stops in the shoot-out was unbelievable.

The Pole undoubtedly has the type of habit every keeper would love of making big saves at crucial times in big games.

His sensational penalty stop in last season's Champions League group clash against Manchester United 's Louis Saha's springs to mind.

His howlers, and there have been a few, don't tend to cost his team and are easily forgotten when he can produce moments like Wednesday night.

And when you consider Craig Gordon has just been sold for £9million it makes you wonder what sort of fee Boruc could command if one of the cash-laden Premiership clubs took a shine to him.

But make no mistake Boruc was lucky to still be on the pitch after his outrageous assault on Celtic team-mate Naylor.

Had he been so aggressive towards an opponent no one would have argued if the ref had shown him a red card.

There's no doubt Naylor was having a torrid time trying to cope with the pace and threat of Vladimir Bystrov.

The last thing he needed was the imposing figure of his own goalkeeper pushing him and grabbing him round the throat.

But the English defender showed remarkable restraint in not being as aggressive in return.

I know a few Celtic players who would have throttled Boruc there and then had he tried something similar.

Most players - especially at that level - have a passionate sense of pride and simply wouldn't accept being made to look foolish by one of their own colleagues.

Normally that type of confrontation, or worse, is reserved for the training ground or the dressing room where tempers often flare.

The truth is Boruc's attack on Naylor could easily have got out of control.

And of course that would have been the worst course of action to take.

Newcastle team-mates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were infamously sent off in disgrace a couple of years ago when they swapped punches during a home game against Aston Villa.

Had Naylor not retained his composure on Wednesday night the consequences would have been severe.

If one or both had been red carded Celtic would have been in big trouble against the Russians.

And even if they had somehow squeezed through, suspension for the first group game would have caused Gordon Strachan a major selection headache.

We all know scraps at training are a regular occurrence.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to light a player's fuse.

During my time at Celtic, Peter Grant and Chris Morris fell out at training and the result was Granty missed a few games with a knee injury after a reckless tackle that was designed to hurt him. It did.

Mark McGhee had to stop a raging Tommy Burns going for Mick McCarthy in the bath after a Scottish Cup tie at Celtic Park - and we won that one!

In recent years no one has been more popular than Henrik Larsson.

That didn't stop Tosh McKinlay sorting him out at Barrowfield when the Swede got a bit too lippy.

Boruc grabbed all the headlines this week and is seen as a hero for delivering Champions League football to Celtic for a second successive year.

But I'll tell you this - he should be thankful Naylor didn't stick one on his chin. He deserved it.