BHOYS SURGE TO VICTORY
Memories of Malmo banished with late recovery
THE effect of Brendan Rodgers on Celtic is akin to a 1,000-volt defibrillator. At the end of a very European night at Parkhead, the old place was electric, bristling with energy.
There were heart failures along the way. When Celtic seek to defend a lead in Europe there usually are. Some Ronny Deila habits are harder to shake off than others.
But a three-goal lead to take to Tel Aviv is just reward for a staggering, see-saw game of football best watched through the cracks in the fingers.
Where it leaves the Champions League hopes of Rodgers’ side is anyone’s guess.
After 54 minutes they were cruising, supporters Googling flight timetables to Barcelona and Madrid.
A blistering first half brought the stadium to a state of ferment. Tom Rogic opened the scoring in nine minutes. Leigh Griffiths scored twice and fans dared to dream.
They should have known better. We all should.
A stunning three minutes at the start of the second period saw the Israeli champions score twice through Lucio Maranhao and Maor Melikson. Parkhead, suddenly, was silenced. Celtic were back in Malmo territory, the ghosts of a traumatic exit last season tracking their every step.
It was natural, now, to fear the worst. Predicting how it might all end is an impossible task.
To their credit, the home team rallied. From moments of nagging self doubt, they mustered two more goals.
Rodgers has shown an eye for the timely, astute substitution. Few have proven better judged than Moussa Dembele.
The French striker’s relegation to the bench from the start had been a surprise. Yet the impact of his arrival was felt within three second-half minutes as he bulleted a Griffiths corner into the net.
Celtic were not done yet. Captain Scott Brown doesn’t score often. Yet his strike here, for the fifth goal four minutes from time, may yet be calculated in pound signs. Twenty million to be precise.
The defending here was haphazard. Craig Gordon was questionable for the visitors’ opener in 55 minutes and, despite a superb reflex save from Maharan Radi at 4-2, there may now be a decision to be made when new signing Dorus de Vries is fully fit.
Israel’s champions fancy themselves on home soil. Defend as they did at the beginning of the second half and Celtic may yet tread some old, depressing ground.
And yet, against a team which kept clean sheets against Sheriff Tiraspol and Olympiakos, five goals marked an unexpected return. Celtic have something to work with next Tuesday night.
The regret is the away goals. There was no need for this game to become so fraught.
In a thrilling first half, the hosts had six attempts on target. They scored three of them.
Rodgers claimed Leigh Griffiths would be worth £15million with a more exotic name. Even with Edinburgh on his passport, his value is becoming immense.
He’s scored in every round now, against Lincoln Red Imps, FC Astana and now Be’er Sheva.
Brown also had an outstanding game and might have opened the scoring in three minutes with an angled drive.
Celtic surged into the lead in nine minutes. Griffiths, at the heart of four of the goals, dinked a through ball for Scott Sinclair. The new Bhoy was clattered by the keeper on the edge of the box. A yellow card for David Goresh suggested Celtic may have had a penalty anyway. As the ball broke to Rogic 20 yards from goal, the Australian did not wait to find out. A controlled first-time left foot finish into the net sent Celtic Park into raptures.
It should have been 2-0 in 34 minutes, Kieran Tierney making ground down the left flank to squeeze a ball to the unmarked Sinclair in space in the six-yard box. The ball slightly behind him, he could only manage a weak effort.
The impact of Kolo Toure in the opening stages was a sight to behold, and he crafted the second goal. A superb surging run was more Yaya than Kolo in 21 minutes, before he fed Sinclair. The winger looked to have blown it until he fed the overlapping James Forrest. His first-time cross sat up invitingly for Griffiths to attack it. The Scotland striker timed his run and leap perfectly, a thumping downward header giving Goresh no chance.
He wasn’t done there, racing 40 yards to leap into the arms of Rodgers.
Celtic had the Israelis where they wanted them. They even added a stunning third on the stroke of half-time.
Griffiths won a free-kick after he was clattered chasing a lost cause on the edge of the area by Shir Tzedek. The striker dusted himself down to curl a superb strike high into the top corner of the net.
It was natural to think the tie was over. Minus their talisman Eliyaniv Barda, the team in red were on the ropes. Hopes of a knock-out blow in the second period were high.
Yet the inexplicable failings of the Deila era made an untimely reappearance.
Maranhao outstripped Eoghan O’Connell for strength and pace before smashing a shot past Gordon at the near post. It was an awful goal to lose. Memories of Malmo were resurrected further when the Israelis scored a second just two minutes later.
Gordon was blameless this time, Melikson thrashing a superb low shot past him after a cut back from Radi.
Now it was Celtic on the ropes, blood streaming from every orifice.
The introduction of Nir Bitton and Dembele turned the tide again.
The striker had been on the field three minutes when he restored a two-goal lead with a soaring header. Brown lashed a fifth goal into the net at the second attempt four minutes from time.