CLINGING ON TO

Celtic will need to do it the hard way after Rosenborg hold firm

BY the conclusion of a frustrating, impotent Champions League night, Celtic were able to cling to the slimmest consolation. For all their chances, Rosenborg couldn’t score either.

God knows, the champions of Norway came close. Closer during a highly-strung second half than a Parkhead home side visibly spooked by the crippling absence of key strikers Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths.

Suspended for one match by UEFA for improper conduct against Linfield in Belfast, Griffiths was injured anyway.

He now faces an intense period of treatment to be fit for Wednesday’s second leg in Trondheim.

With a fit Dembele, Celtic might have coped. But the young Frenchman is ruled out until September with a recurrence of last season’s hamstring ailment.

However, these are now testing, edgy days for Celtic.

Qualification for European football’s promised land is never easy. Right now, it hangs by a thread.

Overcoming similar personnel deficiencies to get there last season, Brendan Rodgers was granted £6.5million from the £30m windfall to spend on new signings.

In Scottish terms, it is a sizeable outlay, but more cash could still be needed for a striker if the Griffiths injury proves as troublesome as Dembele’s.

Reaching the Champions League is difficult with two fit strikers. With none, it becomes football’s answer to managing Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

Deprived of a target to aim for, a succession of Celtic crosses were soaked up by an organised, miserly Rosenborg defence.

With a predatory goalscorer of their own, the Norwegians could have left Glasgow with a result to savour. Celtic can be grateful for small mercies.

Rodgers insists it is too early to write Celtic’s European obituary yet. Griffiths and defender Erik Sviatchenko could be back next week and, playing on the break, Celtic will find more space than they could here.

Yet this was a night which shifted the balance of the tie. Rosenborg must now be favourites to progress to the playoff qualifying round. If Celtic are to reach the Champions League for a second successive year, they will have to do it the hard way.

The eternal optimist, Rodgers has urged his players to show bravery and courage away from home in Europe and insisted: ‘Next week, we can go there and we can play.

‘You saw that tonight at home. We were compact with and without the ball.

‘We can go there, play our game and I think there will be a wee bit more space. These are not easy games. But we will go there confident of getting a goal.

‘We can score goals, so we look forward to it.’

Minutes before half-time here, the reality of Celtic’s plight began to dawn on a home support muted by circumstances over and above the banishment of 900 members of the Green Brigade.

As the umpteenth Kieran Tierney cross of the night was hacked clear with no Celtic attacker in sight, the reason football teams play with a centre-forward became painfully apparent.

In truth, the movement and predatory instincts of Griffiths and Dembele were only one of the things Celtic missed here.

All over the pitch, they didn’t look themselves.

Teenage Norwegian defender Kristoffer Ajer came in for his first Celtic start in place of the injured Sviatchenko.

And as predicted, Australian midfielder Tom Rogic was employed as a false nine, a plot first used against Partick Thistle last season.

One stroke of misfortune was bad enough. Two changed the whole psychology of the tie.

For long spells here, the Scottish champions passed the ball from pillar to post, from side to side. The final ball to the centre was the problem.

Without a recognised striker, the good work went to waste. Bluntly, they looked lost.

Their first-half plight was summed up in 37 minutes when Tierney, the young left-back, somehow reached a heavy Scott Sinclair pass and chipped it towards the penalty spot from the byeline.

For once, Rosenborg were caught absent. The kind of cross Dembele might have gobbled up, it fell to a surprised James Forrest, a player not noted for his heading prowess.

The first ripples of unrest spread around Celtic Park, there and then. A tie which looked infinitely winnable suddenly took on the appearance of a slog.

Rogic had an uncomfortable night in his new role.

Rodgers spoke of the need for Stuart Armstrong and other midfielders to get in behind the visiting defence when opportunity knocked.

The Scotland man managed it once in the tenth minute, drifting on to a deft Olivier Ntcham pass with his back to goal. As so often, Rosenborg suffocated the space.

Slowly, the visitors took heart from their comfort in defence.

They crafted the first opening in 23 minutes, a delightful pass behind the Celtic defence by Mike Jensen picking out the clever Milan Jevtovic.

He was crowded out eventually, but Rosenborg were finding their way. On the break, they posed a danger.

A deeply nervous period began when Craig Gordon was called into action in 52 minutes, pushing a dangerous inswinging free-kick from Vegar Hedenstad over the crossbar.

Rosenborg then had two outstanding opportunities for an away goal.

Just over an hour was gone when Yann-Erik de Lanlay had a wonderful opening, blazing a simple opportunity from a Jevtovic centre over the bar eight yards after a Scott Brown error put his team in trouble.

Nicklas Bendtner, the nonscoring bad-boy of Danish football, could do no better with 14 minutes to play.

Jevtovic was the provider again, the 6ft 4in striker miskicking from 10 yards.

The home side managed a shot on goal 20 minutes from time when Forrest forced his way through two challenges on the edge of the area, thumping a low shot beyond the far post of the underworked keeper Andre Hansen. It felt like progress. Brief, fleeting respite from abject frustration.

Yet the truth is this. Over 90 minutes, Hansen had all too little to do. The same could not be said of Gordon, the home keeper blocking a low, netbound effort by substitute Elba Rashani in injury time with his legs, leaving Celtic with an unusual sensation. The feeling that a 0-0 draw at home suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

‘Rosenborg are midway through their season,’ said Rodgers. ‘They are going to be a bit sharper and more dynamic at times, but our players are still at a really good level. We’ll look forward to the second leg and it should open up for us.’