Sport: Rangers and Celtic left to fly the flag for Scotland in Europa League
● Ibrox side pull off impressive win in Netherlands as champions labour in Riga
Rangers will host Galatasaray and Celtic will travel to Sarajevo in the play- off round of the Europa League as the Glasgow sides moved tantalisingly close to the group stage with contrasting victories.
The Ibrox side notched up an impressive 4-0 win against Willem II in the Netherlands while Neil Lennon’ s side made heavy weather of their third qualifying round tie against Riga before progressing 1- 0. The Scottish champions needed a last-minute goal from Mohamed Elyounoussi in Latvia.
On a night when four Scottish clubs were in action, Aberdeen were edged out 1-0 by Sporting in Lisbon while Mother well lost 3- 0 in Israel to Ha po el Beer Sheva.T hat leaves Celtic and R angers to carr y the flag for Scotland in Europe this season.
Despite the narrowness of Celtic’s win Lennon felt his side did “a very professional job”.
“It was dominant,” he said. “We had to be patient, we left it a little bit late to get the winner. We should have had the game wrapped up a lot earlier, we had a couple of great chances.”
They will now face an away tie against Sarajevo who beat Buducnost Podgorica of Montenegro 2-1.
Goals by James Tavernier, Ryan Kent, Fi lip He land er and Connor Goldson secured R angers’ impressive win in Holland, setting up a mouthwatering Ibroxc lash with Turkish giants Galat asaray who defeated Hajduk Split 2-0.
The best that could be offered of Celtic in Riga last night was that they ultimately got the job done to move into the Europa League play-off stage and an away tie against Sarajevo.
The worst that could be said of Neil Lennon’s men is that it took them to within the closing seconds of normal time to find a way through against the Latvian champions. There was a palpable sense of relief, more than any delight, when Celtic’s two most crucial substitutes combined to end the home side’s resistance.
A deft ball over the top found Jeremie Frimpong down the right, an area he had pounded to become Celtic’s most pro - ductive attacking weapon. The Dutchman, brought on for the injured James Forrest after 35 minutes, didn’t deliver a clean cross. But his bobbing cutback provided all the opportunity Mohamed El you noussire qui red to spare his team from extra-time – or worse – with the Norwegian sweeping a low effort in at the far corner only eight minutes on from entering the fray in place of the ineffectual Odsonne Edouard.
The Frenchman was hardly alone in failing to fire. Damp squibs have provided more pyrotechnics than Lennon’s men were able to produce in the Skonto Stadium, despite a flurry of late opportunities.
The best of these fell to another sub, Albian Ajeti. He somehow failed to bundle the ball over the line from a yard in the 73rd minute, despite looking as if he had carried it in between his feet. He was blocked, practically in the net, by a combination of his own twisting and the desperate actions of Riga keeper Robert Ozols and centre-back Herdi Prenga.
Celtic can not blame their stilted display on the antiseptic atmosphere they have struggled with in this pandemic age. The arena resounded to the sound of noisy backing from home supporters. Covid -19 restrictions may have meant the stadium was empty, but a resourceful group stationed two open-top buses behind ago al from where they banged drums and bawled out chants for their team.
Throughout the tie, their cries of encouragement had to be reserved for celebrating their team’s defensive doggedness. The pattern of the encounter was set early on, with the Latvian champions camping in on the edge of their own box and placing the onus square lyon Celtic top rise them apart. For the first half hour, the Scottish champions were thwarted in this endeavour through appearing to possess all the piercing powers of a rusty, blunt can opener.
Lennon’s fervent hope would have centred on his ability to restore Edouard, pictured, to the starting line-up following his curious, fatigue -inspired absence at the weekend. The manager would have looked to the 22-year- old to provide his side with the edge required to break down obdurate opponents. Alas, Edouard looked out-of-sorts as Celtic strug - gled to muster any real goalscoring opportunities against a club unbeaten in their own environs across all six of their previous European ties.
Frimp ong’s very presence seemed to inject life into the endeavours of Lennon’s side. Within two minutes of the teenager bounding on to the pitch, Olivier Ntcham drew a first save from Ozols with a fizzing drive the keeper fingertipped over. Suddenly, Celtic seemed to be energised and spaces started to appear in and around the Riga box. Twice in two minutes Lennon’ s men had chances to break the deadlock, but their inability to make these count said everything about the nature of their performance.
Nir Bitton should have burst the net when the ball broke to him 12 yards out but could only scuff his shot, allowing Ozols to gobble it up. Then Callum Mcgregor chose the wrong option when sent in on goal by Edoua rd. As the keeper advanced, he elected to square to Frimpong at the back post rather than go for goal, but his pass was cut out before it reached the wing-back.
El you no us si’ s match winning intervention allows Celtic to park last night’s display and move on, but the victor y in no way disguises their continued problems finding anything in the way of attacking rhythm. The one comfort will be the clean sheet – even if this was achieved against a side that eschewed enterprise in the hope of catching Celtic on the counter.
RIGA: Ozols; Petersons, Stuglis, Prenga, Rugins; Djurisic, Wesley Nata (Brisola 71), Panic, Roger, Kamess; Debelko (Milosevic 67) (N’kololo 90). Subs not used: Sharpar, Purins, Hora, Cernomordijs.
CELTIC: Barkas; Bitton, Duffy, Ajer; Forrest (Frimpong 35), Ntcham, Brown, Mcgregor, Taylor; Christie; Edouard (Elyounoussi 82). Subs not used: Bain, Klimala, Turnbull, Elhamed.