Moussa spot-on as Celts draw in Vienna
RAPID VIENNA 1
Joelinton (pen, 45)
CELTIC 1
Dembele (pen, 73)
MOUSSA DEMBELE and the second string rode to the rescue yesterday to spare the Hoops the unfamiliar feeling of finishing on the losing side.
The French star netted powerfully from the penalty spot after coming on in a blanket Celtic change just after the hour mark.
His effort equalised an earlier spot kick dispatched by Rapid’s Brazilian forward Joelinton when these old foes had their respective first teams on the park.
“You can see his composure for the penalty, but you can see his presence as well when he plays,” said Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.
“I thought Jonny Hayes was excellent as well. You can see him working his way into it. His pace was very good. That is why we have brought him here.
“We needed them because I thought in the first half the team wasn’t great in terms of their tactical idea.
“They looked like they hadn’t played together before. The shape and their tactical discipline wasn’t very good.”
The game was played in Amstetten at the tidy little Ertl Glas Stadium, capacity 3000. In Scottish terms, think a shrunken down St Mirren Park only, yesterday anyway, with sunshine, serious sunshine.
Dark glasses were everywhere and the little stalls that dotted the ground did brisk business as fans sought to offset the dangers of dehydration with giant glasses of water or, perhaps less sensibly, lager.
But if it looked prime holiday entertainment,
Celtic had a serious job to do so the manager’s disappointment was not surprising.
There might be a late tweak or two due to tactics or injury but otherwise you would expect the 11 starters to be the men entrusted with kicking off the Hoops’ Champions League qualifying campaign in 12 days.
Important then that any rough edges left over from their brief break be smoothed off here or against Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic on Tuesday night.
And, for the first team at least, there were few with goalkeeper Craig Gordon living something of a charmed life in the early exchanges.
He first found himself forced to make an early save to deny Tamas Szanto after a sloppy back-heeler from Stuart Armstrong allowed the winger to dispossess a less than amused Kieran Tierney.
Then he twice had reason to be grateful, first to the stand side linesman minutes later for spotting the Hungarian Szanto was in an offside position when he rounded him and rolled the ball into an empty net.
Next it would be the woodwork to his rescue, the post blocking Stefan Schwab’s lob after he gifted the ball to the Vienna man.
It couldn’t last and just before half-time Rapid went ahead, Gordon’s foul on Joelinton earning the forward the chance to score from the penalty spot – which he grabbed with relish.
To be fair, even then the Celtic keeper’s luck hadn’t entirely run out. In any other match it would have been a sending off for sure.
Here, with it being a friendly, referee Markus Hameter opted for leniency, showing him only a yellow card.
Pretty much from front to back, the Celtic first string looked rusty.
When Erik Sviatchencko’s fine ball out of defence led to Leigh Griffiths being pulled down outside the Rapid box for a foul, hopes were high from the Celtic fans in the crowd we were in for repeat of the forward’s heroics for Scotland against England.
It wasn’t to be, though, with his effort going straight into the wall.
The second half was a different game – literally with both sides swapping all their players. Rapid did so at the break, Celtic held on until just after the hour.
Happily for Brendan Rodgers and the travelling Hoops fans it turned out to be a more enjoyable one than that which went before it.
When the competitive stuff starts though, they are unlikely to get many second chances as clear as this one.
RAPID VIENNA: Knoflach, Schrammel, Wober, Dibon, Pavelic, Auer, Schwab, Szanto, Murg, Keles, Joelinton.
CELTIC:
4-2-3-1: Gordon 5 (Hazard 64, 6); Lustig 6 (Miller 64, 6), Boyata 6 (Simunovic 64, 6), Sviatchenko 7 ( Ralston 64, 6), Tierney 7 ( Izaguirre 64, 5); Brown 7 (Bitton 64, 6), Armstrong 6 (Henderson 64, 6); Forrest 6 ( Mackay- Steven 64, 6), Mcgregor 7 ( Rogic 64, 6), Sinclair 6 ( Hayes 64. 6); Griffiths 6 ( Dembele 64 6). Unused subs – De Vries, McCart, Ajer, Eboue, Aitchison, Rodgers, Doohan.