BOSS HAILS ‘BRILLIANT’ SHOW

From Back Page group game sets up an intriguing challenge for Rodgers’ men with a doubleheader against the German champions up next. The victory came at a cost, however, with captain Scott Brown limping off midway through the second half with a hamstring injury. That could prove a hammer blow for both club and country with Brown a vital part of Gordon Strachan’s plans for Scotland’s forthcoming matches with Slovakia and Slovenia. Stuart Armstrong is also reported to be struggling with an injury and sat on the bench last night. ‘The overall performance was absolutely outstanding,’ said Rodgers. ‘This is our first away game (in the group stage) this year and the result was absolutely brilliant. ‘Defensively we were exceptional and in spells with the ball we were very good.’ Celtic went ahead after a perfect pass by Olivier Ntcham released Kieran Tierney down the left and his cross was fired home by Griffiths. They made it 2-0 when Roberts pounced on a mistake in the Anderlecht defence and saw his powerful shot deflected past keeper Frank Boeckx. Sinclair added further gloss to the scoreline with a composed finish in the closing seconds. ‘The first goal showed great patience,’ added Rodgers. ‘You can see we’re growing at this level and the three goals were fantastic. The boys deserve a great amount of credit. A Scottish team hasn’t won away from home in so long. I think Neil Lennon was the last in 2012.’ Captain Brown was noncommittal regarding his hamstring injury and said: ‘Hopefully it is not serious. I’ll get checked up tomorrow and see. ‘The result is right up there because our away form has not been the best but it is a fresh team now, creating history.’ Griffiths said: ‘You can’t take away from that performance. It was magic from start to finish.’