NO TROUBLE IN TRONDHEIM
Rosenborg fail to land a blow as Celtic enjoy perfect preparation for Betfred Cup final
AFTER a torrid European away day in Be’er Sheva, Brendan Rodgers compared the experience to a high-speed spin in a tumble dryer.
Last night, Celtic’s first away win in a Europa League group game was a rather different affair. More of a gentle breeze than the violent buffering of a Paris, Barcelona, Munich or Salzburg.
The narrow margin of victory was deceptive. In three visits to Trondheim in the last 16 months, Scotland’s champions have yet to lose a goal and an abject attacking performance from Rosenborg never threatened to change that. In the course of 90 minutes, Craig Gordon didn’t have a save to make.
What this all means now is clear. Salzburg’s 1-0 win in the battle of the Red Bulls leaves Celtic in need of a single point at home to the Austrians to progress to the last-32 knock-out stage and secure European football after Christmas.
After five wins in five group games, Salzburg’s work is done — they’re already through. What impact that might have on their line-up or effort levels has yet to be seen.
Celtic, however, now know that one last effort on December 13 will see them through in second place.
Before that comes the chance to extend their remarkable run of domestic trophy triumphs to seven against Aberdeen in Sunday’s Betfred Cup final at Hampden.
To that end, they took the unusual step of staying over in Norway last night to help players recover from a European game a good deal less complicated than it could have been.
‘We love playing at Hampden,’ said Celtic manager Rodgers.
‘The pitch suits us. It’s big and we couldn’t be going into the game in a better way.
‘Going into a League Cup final, I would say this is the best level of performance we have had — probably because we have been together longer and won trophies.
‘We will prepare for a tough game, of course, but our aim is to win.
‘The staff will get together and finalise our preparation first thing in the morning, travel back and then Saturday we will just round it all up and get ready for the game.
‘We are used to playing a lot of games and going deep in competitions, so it’s nothing new.
‘Every game is a big game for Celtic and, of course, this was big tonight.’
A single goal from Scott Sinclair was a scant reward in the end for a night of dominance. At times, it was almost too easy.
As with so much of what Scotland’s champions do these days, the winning stemmed from the confidence of James Forrest.
Surging, direct wing play from the Scotland international ended with a delightful chipped cross towards the back post over the head of stranded Rosenborg keeper Andre Hansen.
Headed goals from Sinclair are as rare as a burst of sunshine in November. Yet the winger was perfectly placed to guide the ball into the net from six yards. Three minutes before the interval, the timing was ideal.
The goal averted a half-time spent nursing mild regrets. This was a game which had the feel of a Scottish Premiership encounter in Livingston or Dundee as the Parkhead side pinned the newly-crowned Norwegian champions into their own half, creating one chance after another.
Their recent visits to Trondheim in Champions League qualifiers ended in a 1-0 win and a 0-0 stalemate. A breakthrough was never likely to come quickly or easily. What mattered was that it came.
Doubts began to emerge after Hansen did a fine job of keeping the visitors at bay in the opening 40 minutes.
Rodgers resisted any temptation to risk captain Scott Brown from the start, sticking by the midfield which orchestrated five wins from the last seven games.
Ryan Christie almost justified that vote of faith when his deflected strike bounced just wide of goal.
It was all Celtic. Forrest’s low ball from the left was poorly controlled by Odsonne Edouard, but fell kindly for Tom Rogic to sidefoot the ball towards the bottom right-hand corner of goal. The Rosenborg goalkeeper threw himself low to make a fine save, yet Celtic were coming closer. The home team had barely crossed the halfway line.
Forrest, at the heart of so much danger, almost added to his rich strain of recent goals on the half hour, a surging burst into the area ending in a thumping left-foot strike towards goal, Hansen pushing over the bar.
The keeper was in action again within minutes, going down to gather a Rogic strike. At the other end, Gordon stood motionless and redundant.
Sinclair’s goal was a deserved reward for a first half of attacking endeavour — Forrest the provider — and Celtic had their noses in front.
Despite a sparse crowd and an air of apathy around the Lerkendal Stadium, professional pride made Rosenborg duty bound to offer more in the second half.
Like Celtic, the Norwegians play in a domestic cup final on Sunday, against Stromsgodset. This performance was hardly the best preparation.
Expectations of a reaction in the second half proved misplaced.
Celtic created fewer chances, yet it mattered little. They had their goal.
The onus was on the home team to respond.
Nicklas Bendtner, the troubled Dane, was a figure of abject disinterest up front. When a man is facing a 50-day jail term for assaulting a taxi driver, he clearly has other things on his mind.
Celtic’s plan, meanwhile, was working well, but a second goal would do no harm at all. To that end, Leigh Griffiths replaced Edouard after 66 minutes, Cristian Gamboa the second part of a double change for Mikael Lustig.
It took 75 minutes for Rosenborg to pose Gordon a mild moment of anxiety, Samuel Adegbenro’s glancing header drifting high and wide.
The introduction of Brown for Forrest signalled a desire to shut down any notion of the home side conjuring up some late heroics. Some chance.
This was, in the end, as straightforward a win as Celtic could have hoped for.
Lustig, Forrest and Edouard were taken off as precautionary measures, with no concerns over their involvement on Sunday when the Scottish champions will strive to keep alive hopes of what would be a remarkable treble-Treble.