Kristoffer owes his mate Tore a vote of thanks
Celtic’s Norwegian star Kristoffer Ajer is planning to get in touch with countryman Tore Reginiussen to thank him for helping bail the Hoops out last Thursday night. With Brendan Rodgers’ side going down 2-1 at home to Salzburg, it was the Rosenborg striker’s score, four minutes from time, in Leipzig which earned them their place in the Europa League’s last-32.
And, as Ajer, who missed a tap-in in his game, explained, that led to surreal scenes at fulltime at Celtic Park as both teams celebrated their progress, side by side. He said: “The main objective was to go through from the group, so we are happy we have done that. But when you lose a game there are always mixed emotions.
“Salzburg are a really good team and pressed us very well, so it was a tough game.
“But then it came up on the big screen that Rosenborg had scored, which was fantastic to see.
“So we have to thank the Norwegians for getting that draw.
“I know a few of their players from the national team, and others I’ve played with before, so I’ll be thanking them.
“I know the goalscorer, Tore Reginiussen, as we’ve been together in squads for the national team several times.
“He’s a fantastic guy and a really good goalscorer. So it wasn’t unusual for him to score such a big goal.”
As a centre-half, Ajer doesn’t have the same expectation upon him, but is nevertheless sheepish about his own failure to net against the Austrians.
“I’m not sure how I missed that chance as it was a great opportunity” he said.
“I should have scored, and when I watched it back it seemed harder to miss than net it.
“I’m not sure if it was going in anyway, but not many people would leave a chance like that.
“Luckily it didn’t matter in the end as we still qualified.
“That was the main thing, just to get through.”
It was a success which sees the Hoops go into tomorrow’s draw for the last-32 alongside the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Napoli and Internazionale.
Yet, while fans will already be day-dreaming about February breaks to London, Naples or Milan, the 20-year-old Celt is relaxed about how things might shake out in Nyon. “Our main objective was to have European football after Christmas, so to achieve that is brilliant,” he said. “When you play for Celtic you always want to be at the highest level possible. But when we came in to the Europa League and saw the group, we knew it would be tough.
“We’ve had a lot of hard games, so we have to be really happy about making it through.”