Following a testing week of questioning Celtic made their way past Lincoln Red Imps to take their place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
Next week’s opponents, Astrana, needed a stoppage time goal to edge past Zalgaris of Lithuania on a 2-1 aggregate.
Brendan Rodgers will have both legs of that tie well analysed as he prepares for the testing trip to Kazakhstan but will spend most of his time looking at his own squad.
The Celtic boss is expecting to bring in two new players today but it’ll be the men that were in action last night that will be called upon to take the club through to the final qualifier.
After the shock of the first leg defeat Rodgers made wholesale changes to his team with the majority of those switches paying off. Now the Irishman has to decide whether to stick with last night’s side or bring back Stefan Johansen and Nir Bitton for the match in Astrana.
Click on the gallery at the top to view and discuss last night’s successes.
Patrick Roberts was a surprise omission last week,
watching the defeat in Gibraltar from the bench.
Last night was almost too easy for the on loan Manchester City winger although the classy finish to his goal wouldn’t look out of place at any level of the game.
In Astrana next week we will discover if Roberts is an essential part of Rodgers’ plans or a luxury. If he is given a start he is sure to cause problems.
Callum McGregor seems perfectly suited to European football
with only the crossbar denying him another goal against continental opponents.
Brought in to play in central midfield he hardly put a foot wrong and dictated the pace during Celtic’s impressive first half.
McGregor probably wasn’t one of the names that Rodgers was banking on when he arrived at the club but with each passing week he is getting closer to becoming a first choice midfielder- and increasingly influential
After being consigned to the left wing, then banished from Ronny Deila’s side it looks like the real Stuart Armstrong
could be about to re-emerge.
The powerful, forceful midfielder bought for £2m from Dundee United in February 2015 barely surfaced last season but looked like he was finding his feet again last night.
Midfield places are clearly at a premium in Rodgers squad but if the hoops boss decides to go with five in the centre it looks like the ideal opportunity for Armstrong to show his worth.
Leigh Griffiths led the line intelligently, taking the game to Lincoln Red Imps
showing all the signs of a 40 goal striker.
It wasn’t immediately obvious but there were signs that he is forming a partnership with Moussa Dembele although the offside flag was a problem.
On another night the former Hibs striker could have scored a hat-trick- let’s hope that Astrana feel his frustrations as Griffiths turns his chances into goals. Celtic will certainly need those goals.
A scoring defender is always a bonus with Mikael Lustig
showing a striker’s instinct to open the scoring last night.
Any discussion about the Swede usually turns to fitness, just typing the words for double hip operation sounds painful.
At full fitness Lustig brings quality and experience to a defence that is still finding it’s feet. Rodgers has hinted that Lustig could be played at centre-half but as a right-back he has no equals in the Celtic squad- provided he is fully fit.