Celtic got their revenge over Romanian Champions Cluj last night with a pretty empathetic 2-0 victory at a rain-swept Celtic Park.
We were aggressive and assertive from the start pinning Cluj back into their own half for most of the game in a dominant performance which was apt considering the awesome pre-match display by the Green brigade.
Cluj clearly had come just to defend and showed little ambition for the first hour or so of the game with the plan apparently to try and sneak something on the break or from a set-piece.
It’s really difficult to fathom how this lot came to Celtic Park two months ago and won 4-3 on the night that saw our Champions League group qualification ambitions end though last night we gave starts to Christopher Jullien and Boli Bolingoli and actually played Callum McGregor in the middle of the park as opposed to left-back so that may explain it.
An overdue lead was taken on 20 minutes when Callum McGregor’s pass was caught just on the byline by Boli who dinked it beautifully into the middle of the box where Odsonne Edouard headed home from point-blank range.
Less than five minutes later we gave away a free kick on the edge of the box after a wild challenge from McGregor and after a decent initial save from Fraser Forster the ball was eventually put in the net by Kevin Boli for the visitors but was flagged for offside. Replays showed that Mario Rondón had been standing slightly in front of the Celtic backline so the correct call.
Rondón later made a complete fool of himself with a pathetic dive in the box that rightly resulted in a yellow card.
At the back Christopher Jullien continues to look like a fine acquisition though he needs to practice his headers as he had three opportunities before we opened the scoring the first of which was a stick-on but was saved by keeper Giedrius Arlauskis when it should have been nestling in the back of the net. It’s great that Jullien can win these offensive headers seemingly at will but he must start making them count.
As much as Celtic were dominating you need to make that control count and we did that with a second goal 14 mins into the second half.
Loan signing Mohamed Elyounoussi has shown flashes of his ability so far in a Celtic jersey but has generally looked way off the pace and well short of match fitness. Last night he was far more at it and he started and finished the move that led to the second goal by robbing Omrani in his own half before a beautiful step over in midfield left Mihai Bordeianu in his wake and he strided forward, fed through Forrest who took the ball into the Cluj box and then cut back for Elyounoussi to blast in his first Celtic goal via a pretty huge deflection off of the backside of defender Andrei Burca. But they all count.
Cluj showed far more ambition after that and a few moments later Ciprian Deac blasted an effort at goal that was well saved by Fraser Forster but that was as dangerous as it got and we had other chances with Christie and Edouard striding into the box but unable to find the finish.
The full-backs Elhamed and Boli Bolingoli were fantastic all night replicating the form they showed at Ibrox a month ago and McGregor, Brown and Christie were tireless in the midfield with Forrest and Elyounoussi relentlessly attacking the Romanian’s backline all night.
So 2-0 and top of the group with Lazio coming from a goal behind to win 2-1 at home to Rennes in the other fixture and in this group it looks like there’s no clear progression assured for any team.
The Italians come to Celtic Park in three weeks and in what will be a winnable but far more demanding task as we try and shackle their goal machine Ciro Immobile but as Montogomery said: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Now onto Sunday and Celtic can’t afford any slip-ups as we visit The Tony Macaroni Arena and Gary Holt’s Livingston.
Having dropped our first points of the season last weekend away at Hibs our lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership over Rangers is down to one solitary point.
They will be at home against Hamilton Accies later in the day so you’d be as well giving them the points right now, therefore, we really need a victory.
The last time we visited Livi it was a pretty uninspiring 0-0 draw and on that artificial surface and with their physical style of play it will be tough.
They’ve faltered in recent weeks after a strong start to the season that saw them go unbeaten in nine domestic games with two draws and two wins in the league but since throwing away a 1-0 lead and losing 3-1 at Ibrox they’ve suffered a 2-0 home loss to Aberdeen and a surprise 2-1 away defeat at struggling Hamilton Accies.
Despite pushing them close they also went out of the League Cup via a 1-0 home loss to Rangers so Gary Holt is looking to arrest a run of four straight defeats.
At home, they are very difficult to break down and they won ten of their nineteen home games last season including victories over Hibs, Rangers, Kilmarnock and a 5-0 thumping of Hearts.
They also conceded only 44 goals last term which was the fifth-lowest in the league though have since lost some of their defensive stalwarts over the summer including goalkeeper Liam Kelly as well as centre backs Declan Gallagher and Craig Halkett.
I got my prediction last week badly wrong with a 3-0 score pick for us at Hibs finishing 1-1 so I’ll be a lot more conservative this time and predict us eeking out a 1-0 win. I don’t expect it to be pretty and indeed it’ll likely mirror our recent 1-0 win at Hamilton Accies but as long as we get the full points that’ll do.
....Always A Tim! 