UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE CELTIC 1 ZENIT ST PETERSBURG 0

AT CELTIC PARK ELTIC’S European campaign may well still end next week in frozen Russia but what they did against Zenit St Petersburg in Glasgow was win back respect – and lots of it – on the European stage.

True, their opponents were rusty, having only now emerged from hibernation following a two-month winter break, but nothing should take away from a performance full of invention and excitement.

This was Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic close to their very best. They fully deserved their win. It was a pleasure to watch, especially after some of the dispiriting Champions League performances we’ve had to sit through this season.

The manager didn’t have a single failure on the pitch including the substitutes.

Callum McGregor, who has become something of a European specialist, operated superbly in the No 10 position, and beside him was Eboue Kouassi, a surprise starter, who enjoyed himself immensely. Scott Brown was superb, Olivier Ntcham a star in a crowded midfield and Moussa Dembele really looked the part.

However, the pick of them all was Kieran Tierney.

This remarkable 20-year-old footballer terrorised Zenit on their right side, roasting players as if they weren’t there all night and looking every inch a lad born to play at this level.

Okay, so the 1-0 lead might not be enough. The return will be hugely different and far more difficult. But, at least for last night, Celtic made the top scorers in the Europa League look a level below average.

And after what was the best performance of the season, Rodgers and his players have given themselves one hell of a chance.

The first half was a joy to watch. Nobody wanted it to end apart from the Zenit fans and their players who had been given something of a run-around.

Celtic’s start was seriously good. It is impossible to recall a decent touch made by a Zenit player in the opening five minutes, as the ball zipped past them.

The Celtic midfield seemed to be in harmony, Dembele strong and sharp, and Tierney did more in these opening stages than most left-backs achieve in an entire match.

There was a great example of this when the full-back charged past two Zenit players, his cross was defended and when the Russians broke, with Emiliano Rigoni thinking he was going in on goal, Tierney got back to retain possession.

Celtic began to create chances on eight minutes. Dembele

Cheld up the ball, played in Ntcham with a reverse pass and while Zenit goalkeeper Andrei Lunev deserved praise for his save, the young Frenchman really ought to have made it 1-0.

FOR all Celtic’s good play, they almost gifted the visitors a goal on 12 minutes.

James Forrest for once was heavy with a touch in his attempt to control a far-from-easy pass on the bye-line with his chest; Zenit went through the gears with Domenico Criscito and Daler Kuzyaev combining to get the ball into Celtic’s box for Anton Zabolotny to get to and force De Vries into a fine save.

However, apart from that, it was all Celtic.

On 21 minutes and after sustained pressure from the home side, Dembele and Kouassi had the ball nicked off their toes as they were about to shoot inside the Russians’ area. Moments later, Ntcham’s superb touch from a Brown pass got him to the bye-line, and his