Muscles in Brussels
Sensational Celtic heading for Europe past Xmas after power show on road
THERE are 88 shopping days left until Christmas and Brendan Rodgers last night delivered his gift to Celtic three months early.
Participation in European football beyond the festive season, for the first time in three years, is on the cards after a thoroughly professional dismantling of Anderlecht in Brussels.
Time and again Celtic have opened the window on the advent calendar of fate on their Champions League travels and found nothing but emptiness.
One win in 27 group stage games on the road, which came under Neil Lennon five years ago at Spartak Moscow, was scant reward for their participation in the most unforgiving tournament in world football.
However, in the land of fine chocolate they gorged on a rare group stage win to take a hugely significant step towards finishing at least third in Group B.
Rodgers has enjoyed more important wins in his managerial career at Celtic, not least the nerve-shredding qualifiers that have taken his team to this level.
But this was arguably his first marquee success, the first time his side have triumphed against a team they were not favourites to beat.
Injured Stuart Armstrong was replaced in the middle of the park with Olivier Ntcham who had a stinker in the opening half hour.
However, it was the French kid’s exquisite pass inside Alexandru Chipciu that set up Kieran Tierney to cross for Leigh Griffiths’s crucial opener.
Not for the first time Rodgers called his team selection spot on – and Patrick Roberts further underlined the comfort with which they managed the game by scoring a second after the break.
Anderlecht were surprisingly passive in the first half, perhaps a sign of their discomfort after an unconvincing start to the campaign.
They played into the hands of Celtic, who still looked apprehensive following that drubbing against PSG, although they were never overawed.
The Hoops were allowed to play their way gingerly into the game and after realising the nightmare of Neymar and Co was not about to be replicated they quickly took charge – and with aplomb.
The first goal was crucial and the second allowed Celtic to play out the remainder of the second half with a level of comfort that is rarely afforded in this tournament.
Indeed they only served to underline their superiority in the final minute when Scott Sinclair seized on another through ball from Ntcham after the increasingly bedraggled Belgians again lost possession and ran on to whip a shot into the net from 14 yards.
It’s their first group stage victory under Rodgers and with a doubleheader to come against Bayern Munich it might even lead to Celtic believing more than the Europa League is on the cards for early in 2018.
The Constant Vanden Stock stadium, shoehorned into the side streets of a Brussels suburb, was hardly a bearpit which is understandable given the underwhelming start to the season by the Belgian champions.
Celtic sensed the apprehension of their opposition and if the Hoops didn’t quite muster a chance of note in the early stages they weren’t overawed as they moved to build possession with some patience.
Ntcham was sloppy though and the malaise appeared to spread to his team-mates as keeper Craig Gordon knocked a goal kick straight at the feet of striker Henry Onyekuru, thankfully without the Anderlecht frontman
reaping any reward. Sinclair and Dedryck Boyata were also wasteful as Anderlecht, prompted by Pieter Gerkens in midfield, buzzed around their ankles and tried to push into the final third, although Gordon’s box was hardly under siege.
Celtic forced their first corner when Uros Spajic pushed out a telescopic limb to divert a pass from Boyata away from the path of Sinclair and although the set-piece came to nothing it was a sign the visiting team were beginning to settle in front of their travelling support of 1000 fans.
The Hoops couldn’t take advantage as Anderlecht played six minutes with just 10 men after Spajic went off for treatment after being caught by Sinclair.
But suddenly, gloriously, the game turned on a piece of brilliance from Celtic – and lo and behold if it wasn’t Ntcham, their least convincing performer till that point, who spotted the opening. He picked out Tierney galloping into space and the young Scot’s slide-rule delivery across the box was met by Griffiths who slammed a shot into the net at the back post.
Anderlecht skipper Sofiane Hanni almost responded immediately but Gordon took his left-foot shot from the edge of the box deep into his solar plexus, his first save of the game.
The keeper was given a reprieve a minute after the restart as the home side pushed for an equaliser.
Hanni tried his luck with a looping volley from 30 yards but the keeper allowed it to bounce off his chest into the path of Lukasz Teodorczyk.
The most hopeless hitman Belgium has seen since Colin Farrell appeared In Bruges, he somehow sclaffed his effort wide, although he was offside in any case.
Celtic heeded that warning straight away although Anderlecht’s defending was comic cut as Roberts pounced to fire the decisive goal. A risky pass across the home defence towards Oliver Deschacht had disaster written all over it and it slipped under his boot straight into the path of the English winger. Roberts steadied himself, cut inside and fired a left-foot shot on target. Although it looked to be covered by keeper Frank Boeckx sub Serigne Mbodji diverted it into the corner of the net. The Belgian side threatened a couple of times to mount a comeback and Gordon brilliantly touched over a drive from Gerkens before Massimo Bruno had a shot deflected wide. But there was never any danger of Celtic passing up their lead and Sinclair added the gloss at the death to seal an impressive triumph for Rodgers.