- Full Name: Scott McDonald
- Birth Place: Melbourne, Australia
- Date of Birth: August 21, 1983
- Height: 1.73m
- Weight: 78.09 kg
- Position: Forward
- Previous Club: Celtic
- Current Club: Middlesbrough
McDonald’s career as a professional footballer took off only after he joined Motherwell in 2004. After a slow start, scoring only one goal during the second half of the 2003-04 he proceeded to score 15 goals in the next season.. McDonald infamously scored two late goals against Celtic at the end of season 2004/05 to deny them the Scottish Premier League Championship which was instead won by their arch-rivals Rangers. In the 2005/06 season, McDonald scored 11 goals in 35 appearances, and in the following season, scored 15 goals in 32 appearances.
McDonald moved to Celtic Park at the start of the 2007/08 season. He made his debut for Celtic in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying Round match against Spartak Moscow assisting Paul Hartley for Celtic's goal. The game finished 1-1. His first goal for the club came in the second leg of the tie at Celtic Park. He followed that up with the winning goal against AC Milan in the final minute of their UEFA Champions League clash and another last-minute winner just days later, at Gretna.
He scored 25 goals in 36 league appearances in his first season at Celtic, and was the top goalscorer during the 2007-08 season. All tournaments put together, he had scored 31 goals including two hat-tricks.
While at Celtic, McDonald was named BBC Sportsound Player of the Year for his eight man-of-the-match performances throughout the 2006/07 season. In less than three years he had scored 65 goals for the club.
On 1 February, 2010 Celtic sold McDonald for a reported £3.5 million to Middlesbrough.
After representing Australia at U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels, McDonald made his international debut for Australia against Bahrain in February 2006 in an Asian Cup encounter. He was a starter in the Australia squad in the qualification for World Cup 2010 with a 3-0 win over Qatar in February, setting up a goal for Mark Bresciano. He has yet to score a goal at international level.
Australia Head Coach Pim Verbeek has excluded Scott McDonald from his Socceroos squad as the Middlesbrough striker has failed to score in his 16 appearances for the national team despite his prolific goal-scoring record at club level. |
