Kaka's goal sees Milan through to last eight

MILAN - AC MILAN had Kaka to thank, after reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

But the Italians' stilted all-round display against Celtic raised questions about how much further they can go.

The 24-year-old Brazilian scored in extra time to give the six-time European champions a 1-0 win over the Scottish side on Wednesday.

Celtic had threatened to nick an unexpected victory after keeping the tie level at 0-0 after 180 minutes of play.

'I'm very happy to have helped Milan in a match that was so difficult,' said Kaka.

He had held off Neil Lennon's challenge on the halfway line, before outpacing the Celtic defence and slipping the ball under goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

'At the end, we were all very tired but we did well to do what we needed to go through to the next round,' added Kaka.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said he believed his side could use the win as a springboard to a good run in the competition.

Kaka's superb individual performance on Wednesday, however, failed to hide Milan's shortcomings, the most obvious being the lack of a reliable scorer.

Filippo Inzaghi, Alberto Gilardino and Ricardo Oliveira have scored only 24 goals between them all season and four in the Champions League.

Celtic felt they should have won, with midfielder Jiri Jarosik branding Austrian referee Konrad Plautz 'arrogant' for refusing to award two penalties.

Jarosik saw his fifth-minute shot handled by Milan captain Paolo Maldini, while a tackle on Shunsuke Nakamura five minutes from the end of normal time also drew dismissive gestures from the official.

'The referee was very arrogant and very difficult to talk to and seemed to want to help the Milan players,' Jarosik said.

REUTERS