Petrov notable omission for Celtic

Dundee Utd 0, Celtic 0 (latest)

Stilian Petrov was a notable omission from the Celtic squad for their tough trip to sun-baked Tannadice this afternoon.

The Bulgarian star was quoted this morning saying he would not sign a new contract and would quit the club for better money.

It is the last thing Martin O’Neill wanted to hear before his side’s “Battle of Britain” return leg with Blackburn and he sat in one of the boxes looking glum before kick-off.

O’Neill illustrated how much he wanted a win today by making seven changes to the side which squeezed through to the CIS Insurance Cup semi-final with a win over Partick on penalties on Wednesday.

Momo Sylla, Joos Valgaeren, Bobo Balde, Henrik Larsson, Alan Thompson, Chris Sutton and Steve Guppy came in while Tom Boyd, David Fernandez, Bobby Petta, Shaun Maloney, Jamie Smith, Stephen Crainey and Paul Lambert dropped out.

But Dundee United’s newly-appointed manager Paul Hegarty was also looking for the points to begin his reign in style.

United had won their last two games and the Tannadice legend, who was given the job until the end of the season this week, was looking for his side to climb further away from trouble.

Hegarty made two changes from the team which beat Kilmarnock with Stuart Duff and Jim Hamilton replaced by Jim Lauchlan and Jim Paterson.