The break in the Scottish Premier League fixtures this weekend meant that the attention of the Celtic players turned to playing for their country. With five wins in a row domestically, they would have gone into the weekend’s fixtures in good spirits, that’s for sure.

In reality, most club fans are simply happy that their players come back from international duty without any injuries. However, it’s always good to see Celtic players shine for their country. Remember Artur Boruc in Euro 2008? He was phenomenal for Poland and Celtic fans were proud that he was one of them. So, let us see how Boruc and the rest of Celtic’s international players faired at the weekend.

To start with, let’s talk about the Scottish players. Four of Gordon Strachan’s men played in Scotland’s 0-0 draw with Norway at Hampden Park. Scott Brown, Shaun Maloney, Barry Robson and Gary Caldwell all played 90 minutes for George Burley’s side but failed help them break the deadlock in what was a crucial World Cup qualifier. Caldwell was given a very hard time by Aston Villa striker John Carew and although Robson and Maloney both came close – it wasn’t the best performance from Scotland. In fact, the game is most likely to be remembered for Chris Iwelumo’s horrifying miss.

Elsewhere Georgios Samaras – who was part of Greece’s disappointing Euro 2008 campaign – played the majority of their game against Moldova. Having already notched 10 goals for the Hoops this season, several football bets may have been placed on him adding to his three international goals but it wasn’t to be. His side were comfortable 3-0 winners though as Greece maintained their 100% winning start to World Cup qualification.

Finally, there was the already mentioned Boruc who played the whole game for Poland as they produced an excellent display to beat Czech Republic 2-1. Boruc’s finest moment was when he blocked Milan Baros’ effort with his legs to prevent the Czech’s taking the lead in the first half. It was a typical Boruc save and very reminiscent of some of the ones he made during the summer.

With Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink out injured for Holland, that concludes the Celtic players in action over the weekend. A rather mixed bag in terms of individual performances, but none of them were part of a losing team so that’s something!

By Thomas Rooney – A sports writer who blogs about football betting