PARTY TIME AT PARKHEAD
Celebratory huddles as the annihilation of Astana propels Celtic closer to pot of gold
TEN minutes from the end of a highly satisfying match Celtic’s support made up their minds. Chances are they won’t be wrong.
‘Having a party in the Champions League’ rang around Glasgow’s east end seconds after winger James Forrest slid home the fourth goal. By the time Leigh Griffiths’ shot deflected into the net off Igor Shitov for a fifth two minutes from time, the smartphones were out, sizing up potential opponents in next Thursday’s group stage draw.
Celebratory huddles are rare after the first leg of a Champions League play-off. For Celtic, the trek to the promised land of plenty tends to be a torturous affair. After 90 emphatic minutes, things look rather different.
There’s a job to be done yet. But Sunday’s flight to Astana will be a jaunty affair after this clinical, emphatic deconstruction of the Kazakhstan champions.
The talk pre-match revolved around a nip-and-tuck affair. A 50/50 contest. Twelve months ago, Stanimir Stoilov’s team were stubborn, treacherous opponents here, refusing to bow down until Moussa Dembele struck a 92nd-minute penalty.
For half an hour here they were determined, organised and calm, pressing Celtic into errors in defence. The breakthrough goal from Tom Rogic’s deflected shot in 32 minutes changed everything.
The Australian had a sublime night before succumbing to a head knock in the aftermath of the third scored by Scott Sinclair. The Englishman (below) also claimed the second before half-time.
Strikes from Forrest and Shitov’s own goal in the final 10 minutes will surely guarantee Brendan Rodgers and his team access to Champions League football for a second successive year.
At the same stage last season, Celtic scored five goals against Be’er Sheva. Crucially, this time, they didn’t lose two.
This was a stunning vindica- tion for Celtic’s manager, who had gambled on playing midfielder Nir Bitton in central defence.
Credit Rogic with proving that, sometimes, lightning does strike twice. Three months ago the Parkhead playmaker strolled through the Aberdeen defence to win the Scottish Cup in the final minute. There was no thunder this time. No crash from the heavens over Glasgow’s east end. But the electricity created by a copycat strike from the Australian international set Celtic Park alight. The goal came not a minute too soon. The makeshift pairing of Jozo Simunovic and Bitton looked nervy and unsure of themselves. A nervous hush replaced the traditional Parkhead tremors before Rogic took matters in hand, collecting a Mikael Lustig through ball in 32 minutes. Quick feet nicked the ball between two defenders, putting the ball into space for a clipped, angled shot across the face of goal. Television images showed the ball was going wide of the far post until Astana defender Yevgeny Postnikov’s desperate attempts to clear succeeded only in putting the ball into his own net. UEFA gave it as an own goal but, for the hosts, all the credit belonged to Rogic, a quite superb footballer. Celtic had their breakthrough. Until then chances came at a premium. Griffiths, a scorer in both legs when Celtic overcame the Kazakhstan champions this time last year, came to within inches of burying an emphatic header from a whipped Forrest cross in eight minutes. Yet Celtic toiled and sweated over building on the early momentum. Risky, unwise backheels in the Astana half from Griffiths, then Lustig, prompted needless fretting. More so in 21 minutes when Simunovic gifted possession 30 yards from the Celtic goal to Serikzhan Muzhikov with a slack pass. A low shot failed to test Craig Gordon, but the game had taken an unexpected turn. Astana fed on Celtic’s uncertainty. At this stage, estimations of a five-goal win would have looked mildly ridiculous.
If the visitors were growing into the game when Rogic helped Celtic take the lead then the Sinclair goal — three minutes from the interval — must have felt like a mugging.
It sprang from innocuous origins. A fortunate break of the ball from an Astana defender broke kindly for Sinclair to make his first decisive impact on the game.
He had a fine night in the end. But he had offered little until he found himself one on one 30 yards from goal on the keeper Aleksandr Mokin, showing calm and clinical precision to strike the ball inside the far post.
Two-goal margins can lull a team into a dangerous state of false security. Celtic discovered that 12 months ago.
Two goals ahead of Be’er Sheva at half-time in last season’s play-off tie, the game changed quickly and almost calamitously.
Celtic needed concentration and discipline. Most of all they needed calm, composure and a clean sheet. More goals? A bonus.
The third on the hour-mark drained the life from Astana, owing much to a clever, astute advantage from referee Ovidiu Hategan.
Rogic paid a heavy price for winning a high ball close to the centre line, collapsing to the deck after a hefty collision with Yuri Logvinenko.
The referee allowed Celtic the advantage, the ball falling to Griffiths to feed Sinclair. The striker laid the ball back into the winger’s path and he thumped a low finish for a treasured third.
From Rogic it was a vital final contribution. Dazed and floored in the middle of the pitch, the midfielder made way for Callum McGregor as the heavens opened over Celtic Park.
Within seconds came a wonderful chance for a fourth. Few would have bet against Griffiths in a one on one with Mokin. Uncharacteristically, the striker took a heavy first touch, blazing an angled effort high and wide.
There was no cause for panic. Astana looked a tired and beaten team and Celtic had the scent of blood in their nostrils.
The choice was to settle for three or place a heel on Astana’s throat. Wisely, they chose the latter.
Forrest claimed a deserved fourth in 79 minutes with an angled finish from a Griffiths assist.
There was no need to stop there. With Astana broken and bowed, Sinclair fed Griffiths two minutes from time, the striker calmly cutting inside Dmitri Shomko to stroke past Mokin for 5-0, despite a nick off Shitov.