CELTS TOO HOT FOR ICEMEN
But sterner test now awaits Deila with trip to Azerbaijan
THE good news for Celtic: in a stadium reminiscent of a public park they recovered from a breathless, unpleasant opening half-hour to stroll into the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
The bad news? Their reward for victory is a logistical nightmare. A 6,500-mile round trip to Baku to confront the awkward talents of Azerbaijani champions Qarabag FK. Short of Kazakhstan, it is difficult to think of a more troublesome venue to vie f or a potential £16million UEFA windfall.
The first leg comes in Glasgow next Wednesday, the second a week later. Exiled from their home city of Agdam by ethnic tensions, Qarabag enjoy little in the way of home comforts.
Narrowly edged out of the Europa League by Inter Milan and eventual winners Dnipro last season, however, they have a tendency to make life desperately uncomfortable for guests. For Celtic, the tie will rekindle memories of Shakhter Karagandy. They came through that. Eventually.
A 6- 1 aggregate victory over modest Icelandic opponents will fool no one. There is improvement to be had yet.
Holding a 2-0 lead over Iceland’s Stjarnan from the first leg, the Parkhead side contrived to lose the dreaded, preventable early goal.
They steadied the ship, Nir Bitton killing this tie stone dead after 33 minutes with a critical close-range header from a Stefan Johansen corner. Charlie Mulgrew, recalled at left-back for the increasingly unfancied Emilio Izaguirre, then justified a big call from Ronny Deila by smashing a second four minutes into the second half. Leigh Griffiths, a substitute on the hour mark, applied more pressure to the rather toothless Nadir Ciftci by slotting a simple finish with two minutes to play before Johansen finished a simple goal in the final minute of injury time.
And yet. A night expected to be comfortable — mundane even — briefly threatened to become anything but when the Icelandic champions opened the scoring with their f i rst attack i n the seventh minute.
No one saw it coming. Least of all a ponderous Celtic defence.
Stjarnan needed something to stir the pot. And their f i rst counter-attack of the game proved stunningly successful when Jeppe Hansen broke down the left flank, slotting the ball inside to striker Olafur Finsen.
Bitton would atone himself later. But the Israeli allowed Finsen to step inside him far too easily to make the time and space for a low, rifled shot inside the right-hand post of Craig Gordon.
The disbelief was shared equally by a small band of 200 travelling Celtic supporters and the 800 home fans. Stjarnan’s support belted out Leonard Cohen’s iconic anthem Hallelujah in the aftermath of the goal. Celtic needed some divine inspiration of their own, on a tight, compressed artificial surface more suited to an Ayrshire Junior game than the Champions League.
For Celtic, this would have been a truly ignominious setting to end their hopes of a return to the group stage.
It did not come to that. Primarily because Ronny Deila’s team refused to panic, adhering rigidly to their tight passing game in the hope of eking out an opening.
Ciftci’s inclusion was less surprising, despite a hat-trick for Griffiths in Spain at the weekend. The Turk, soon to serve a six-match domestic suspension, had a half chance to open his account in 12 minutes when he blazed Stuart Armstrong’s ball high and wide.
Scotland’s champions thought they had equalised in 22 minutes.
Mulgrew took a free-kick close to the byeline rolling the ball along line to Johansen. The Norwegian’s prodded effort was blocked on the line by Gunnar Nielsen, Dedryck Boyata prodding home from a narrowly offside position.
Stjarnan allowed Celtic to play, banking 10 men in their own half in the hope of f orging another breakaway. Their bubble of optimism popped the moment Bitton rose to head the equaliser. The game changed in an instant.
Celtic found the space which eluded them. They forged chances. Their second goal looked to be a question of when rather than if.
Armstrong almost claimed it in 35 minutes, spinning with his back to goal to thump a scissor- shot inches wide from a Gary MackaySteven pass.
Bitton’s thumping first-time shot from the edge of the area caused some anxiety f or goalkeeper Nielsen. But Celtic now were in their stride. Stjarnan needed four goals to progress.
The prospects of that looked minimal. Mulgrew’s thumping low strike f our minutes i nto the second half settled the tie.
Patient, pressing passing along the edge of the crowded Stjarnan area ended when Scott Brown picked out his Scotland colleague on the j unction of the area, Mulgrew thrashing it low into the bottom corner for 2-1.
There was no wish, no need, to take further risks. As he recovers f rom l ong- term i njury Mikael Lustig was hauled from the ropey surface and replaced by Efe Ambrose. The Nigerian has his erratic side. Even he could not blow this.
Armstrong was also sacrificed after an hour to allow Griffiths a chance to make amends for his missed penalty in the first leg.
He almost did it with his first touch of the ball, prodding it inches wide of Nielsen’s right-hand post within seconds of taking to the pitch.
Celtic had another disallowed ‘goal’ in 68 minutes when Bitton’s poked finish from close range was ruled out. Mackay- Steven was then denied a terrific strike when a smart one-two with Bitton ended in an angled shot being blocked by the legs of Nielsen.
Ciftci also dragged a low shot across the face of goal in a slightly unsatisfactory night for the new Bhoy.
He was replaced with nine minutes to play by Tom Rogic and for Deila, the identity of his main striker against Qarabag is one of the big decisions which lie ahead. A flight to Azerbaijan offers plenty of time for thought. And Griffiths complicated it further by calmly slotting into the net from 12 yards after a strong run onto a pinpoint Johansen pass by Mackay-Steven and an unselfish squared ball into the centre.
Johansen helped himself to a close-range finish in injury-time for 4-1 and 6-1 aggregate.