MASSIMO DONATI was the most disappointed man in Celtic Park on Wednesday after being dropped from Gordon Strachan's starting XI.

Barry Robson partnered Paul Hartley in midfield, with the latter making way for the Italian 25 minutes from time.

Strachan knows his team selection surprised many. But he was happy to explain his reasoning.

He said: "Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong. But Massimo does not need to try to prove a point to me now. I know he's a good player.

"That's why I picked him ahead of Paul against Hearts last weekend, and he was terrific.

"I try to pick the team I believe will be the best on the night. I know it's very hard for Massimo to understand. But, as a manager, you are thinking, how are the opposition going to play?' "I'd seen Barry coming on in games and closing people down, so I thought it might be his night. But it's brand new to him, even though he is 29.

"I've now had a look at players playing in different positions and decided what's good and what doesn't work.

"So it's not just the players who learned on Wednesday. I learned a lot as well, including one or two things about some of them."