SOLBAKKEN: Edouard ‘won’t be there next season’
IT was merely a throwaway remark, but Stale Solbakken rubbed a fresh handful of salt into weeping wounds with the suggestion that Odsonne Edouard may have played his last European match as a Celtic player.
Reflecting on a landmark win in Glasgow, the FC Copenhagen boss admits he constructed his successful Europa League strategy around stopping Edouard, whose two goals were ultimately insufficient against the four scored by the Danes over two legs.
Time and again the Norwegian coach winced as the French striker’s elusive movement carried him through on goal in the first leg of the last-32 tie, eventually to mesmerising effect as he chipped home the finish that put Celtic a goal up.
Crucially, that was the last point at which Celtic led in the two-legged tie.
At half-time in the Danish capital, Solbakken organised his players into a system that choked the space around the 22-year-old and gradually they asserted control, equalising on the night and missing a penalty that would have given them a lead coming to Glasgow.
At Parkhead, Edouard cut an isolated, frustrated figure.
Starved of service and space, he struggled to make much of an impact before stepping forward to dink home a penalty that levelled the game up.
‘We were better at keeping Edouard quiet,’ said Solbakken (right). ‘He is obviously the main man for Celtic and he is probably not going to be here next year!
‘You can see every time he is involved that he has something extra. He is a top player and he could play in every league.’
The prospect of Celtic selling their star player might seem too much to comprehend for those supporters still smarting from a European exit.
Now in his third season in Scotland, the £9million signing from Paris Saint-Germain has scored 27 goals for Celtic this season and it would be somewhat surprising if there is not at least one substantial test of Celtic’s resolve in the market this summer.
Thursday represented an off night but, if the forward looked a little jaded, that was all part of Solbakken’s strategy.
‘I thought he got a little bit more tired during the game,’ he added. ‘In the second half, he didn’t have the same power as in the first half but we made it so that he was bumping into our back four.
‘He needed to adjust to our defence, not the other way round. He controlled our back four last week, tonight it was the other way round.’
Solbakken also had reason to thank his goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson. After his fine one-v-one interventions in the first leg, the Swedish international made a timely stop to keep out substitute Leigh Griffiths’ shot as Celtic went with two strikers in search of an equaliser to Michael Santos’s opener.
‘I don’t even know how that occurred,’ said the keeper. ‘I was laying down and then I tried to come up to my feet, throw out my hands and make myself as big as possible. Luckily it hit me.
‘I got some great feedback after that first game, both from people within the club and also the fans too. I’m very happy for that and for the team, that we have gone through.
‘I’m happy to have played my part and I just hope that we can carry this form into the league, too.’
Copenhagen’s reward for beating Celtic is a last-16 tie against Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir. ‘No one came here expecting to win but during the game I felt confident,’ continued Johnsson. ‘Celtic have been in such great form domestically, winning so many games in a row so I don’t know if they would have been nervous.
‘Then again, maybe the night was a little more tense and they felt the pressure.
‘When they scored the penalty they got a real boost and we felt it could be tough with only 10 minutes left.
‘I had a feeling they would put us under some hard pressure after that but we managed to stay calm and used the space that they left when they tried to go more offensive and score the second goal.
‘We were clinical in front of goal and scored twice more.
‘We will see how far we can go. But with this type of performance I think we can go up against a lot of teams.’