CLINICAL CELTIC AS RIGHT AS RAIN
Bhoys bury ghost of Champions League knockout and inflict their cold revenge
REVENGE is a dish best served cold and, for Celtic, a sodden October night in Glasgow’s east end proved the perfect outdoor dining experience.
The repercussions of a 4-3 home defeat to Dan Petrescu’s side in a Champions League third-round qualifier in August were costly and far reaching.
Aside from the £30million in lost revenue, Neil Lennon’s side lost a little of their self-esteem that night.
Celtic like to think of themselves as a Champions League club and the truth is this: Had the team looked then as it does now, there’s a chance they still would be.
In Glasgow, it never rains but it pours. And after missing his team’s pre-match training session with a mystery illness, events here did nothing to improve the condition of Cluj coach Petrescu. His team were well beaten, succumbing to goals in either half from Odsonne Edouard and Mohamed Elyounoussi.
A £16million signing for Southampton, Elyounoussi moved on loan to Glasgow in a quest to rejuvenate his career. That process began in earnest with the 59th-minute goal which sent Celtic top of their group.
The Norway international began the move and finished it, robbing Billel Omrani of the ball deep in Celtic’s own half before spraying a superb pass into the path of James Forrest on the right flank. The Scot held the ball up long enough for the wide man to gallop up the field, screaming for the ball on the edge of the area.
Make no mistake, it needed a slice of luck for the ball to nestle low in the net, a left-foot strike taking a deflection off the back of Andrei Burca before beating visiting keeper Giedrius Arlauskis.
The celebrations which followed the No 27’s first goal in Celtic colours reflected its significance. After an opening-night draw with Rennes in France, Lennon’s men could see the summit in sight. Ahead of back-to-back games with Lazio, a return to the last 32 of UEFA’s second competition is now within their grasp.
The seeds of a pretty awful Champions League defeat to these same opponents were planted in a passive, oddly subdued first half in Glasgow in August. From Lennon’s perspective, this was much more like it.
Celtic began the game at a frightening tempo. For half an hour, the team from Translyvania threatened to haemorrhage goals. The Parkhead side’s hunger and intensity made the opener a question of when and not if.
Omitted from the starting line-up when these teams met in the summer, £7million man Christopher Jullien made his presence felt as the hosts were denied the first goal after ten minutes.
Played at left-back in August, Callum McGregor had something to prove back in his favoured, natural midfield role.
From a short corner, a whipped left-foot cross looked destined to tee up a goal from the moment Jullien headed towards goal. Replays showed the Frenchman headed too close to Cluj keeper Arlauskis. An inch or two either side he would have scored. Yet that did nothing to diminish the quality of the instinctive stop from the Lithuanian.
Jullien held his head in his hands. Like most of Celtic Park, he couldn’t believe it stayed out.
The breakthrough didn’t take long. Celtic took a deserved lead after 20 minutes with a brilliantly constructed and executed goal. Once again, McGregor was the creative fulcrum.
His weighted pass blind-sided the Cluj defence and invited Boli Bolingoli to attack the ball at the byeline. Like Jullien, the Belgian couldn’t be trusted to play in the 4-3 game. The quality of his cross, nodded into the net by Edouard for the Frenchman’s ninth goal of the season, was his vindication.
There were no grounds for panic for Petrescu’s side. Not yet. Teams scoring four goals at Parkhead in a European tie can be counted on one hand and the Romanians thought they had equalised after 26 minutes when Mihai Bordeianu’s free-kick, spilled by Fraser Forster, was turned into the net by Kevin Boli.
Despite Cluj protests, replays showed the defender was one of three players in an offside position. The German officials got it right.
Referee Daniel Siebert was right again when he booked Cluj striker Mario Rondon for an attempt to con his way to a penalty kick four minutes before half-time.
After weathering the early storm, the visitors ended the half growing in confidence and composure. None of which excused Rondon knocking the ball past Jullien and diving so theatrically that Tom Daley would have been embarrassed. The simulation got what it deserved; a yellow card.
As the rain tumbled down from the Glasgow sky, a second goal offered the best prospect of pouring cold water on a Cluj comeback. Forrest threatened one four minutes into the second half, Ryan Christie’s toe nicking a loose Bordeianu cross-field pass into the winger’s path before his final shot dragged wide of the far post.
There was then a key moment when goalkeeper Forster — another of Celtic’s on-loan players from Southampton — produced a stunning fingertip save to deny Ciprian Deac.
The catalyst for the Champions League defeat was the loss of some calamitous goals, spearheaded by the concession of a needless penalty by Scott Brown.
The defending was more solid here, the evidence of a more settled back four apparent throughout.
The captain also made amends for his handball that night with a terrific midfield display here, outplaying Damjan Djokovic after another physical battle between the two old boys.
McGregor and Forrest also had fine games. It was hard, in truth, to find much fault with players in green-and-white jerseys.
The loss to Cluj remains their only defeat of the season. The tempo and aggression shown here certain to be tested once more against Lazio at home in the third game of the group in two weeks’ time.
CELTIC (4-2-3-1): Forster; Elhamed, Jullien, Ajer, Bolingoli; Brown, McGregor; Forrest (Hayes 85), Christie (Ntcham 88), Elynoussi; Edouard. Subs not used: Gordon, Bitton, Sinclair, Bauer, Rogic. Booked: Jullien, Edouard.
CFR CLUJ (4-4-2): Arlauskis, Susic, Boli, Burca, Camora; Bordelanu, Aurelio (Culio 57), Djokoic; Deao, Rondon (Paun 69), Omrani. Subs not used: Fernandez, Golofca, Hoban, Patelau, Mike. Booked: Rondon, Djokovic. Man of the match: Scott Brown. Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany). Attendance: 58,000.