ERIK GOB WAS SO SPIT-IFUL

middle three ar e pr et t y advanced with ju s t Bi t t on si t t ing deep while Brown and Johansen push right up the pitch. Celtic were right in Maribor’s faces from the off and both sides were anything but friendly. If the Slovenians weren’t leaving a little in the tackle, they were rolling on the floor any time someone in gr e e n and white was near. It made an already lacklustre affair even more disjointed with a fussy ref blowing his whistle every 10 seconds. There wasn’t an awful lot of goalmouth act ion either. Johansen missed a great chance early on after some decent work by Christie as the Norwegian scuffed his shot into the turf.

That was about it in the opening 45 minutes – but the game erupted shortly before the break after Griffiths had his bust up with full-back Janza.

The Hoops man reacted after an off-the-ball incident and the Celtic bench were also up in arms. The complaints continued down the tunnel at half-time.

Maribor decided to change their entire team for the second period which helped to defuse some of the tension.

But Rodgers was still chewing the ref ’s ear before the game got back going again.

Not that it perked up too much. Callum McGregor looked to inject a bit of life with a burst from midfield and a drive down the throat of the keeper before Dembele nearly tucked away a ne a t S a id y Ja n ko cutback.

The encounter livened up as it went on and the subs all arrived. Rodgers sent on nine of them after an hour to make it another new side.

Stua r t Armstrong looked decent in a deep ro le , Pat r i ck Roberts had a pop just wide from 30 yards and Tom Rogic stung the goalie’s gloves. But this was a game to get done and out of the way. The real stuff starts on Tuesday.