Gary Lineker was among the first to salute the stunning free kick from Leigh Griffiths that put Celtic 3-0 up over Hapoel Beer Sheva.
In first half injury time the hoops striker was knocked to the ground but dusted himself down and eyed up the Hapoel goal as he waited to take the free kick.
Expectation was in the air with Celtic leading 2-0 approaching half-time with Griffiths heading home the secondgoal ten minutes earlier.
With one sweep of his left foot the former Hibs striker smacked the ball up and over the Hapoel wall into the net to the delight of thousands of Celtic fans- and the BBC and BT Sport presenter.
Here’s Griffiths’ brilliant free-kick for Celtic: https://t.co/gYYB46ljS1
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) August 17, 2016
Moussa Dembele makes it 4-2 to Celtic. We have a goal fest at Celtic Park.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) August 17, 2016
That goal should have set Celtic up for a comfortable win but disaster struck in the 55th and 57th minutes when Lucio Maranhao and Maor Melikson scored to turn the tie on it’s head.
Brendan Rodgers replaced Callum McGregor and Mikael Lustig to steady his side before sending on Moussa Dembele to grab the initiative.
A joint effort from Dembele and fellow sub Nir Bitton put Celtic 4-2 up in the 73rd minute before a bizarre ‘training ground’ effort from Scott Brown restored Celtic’s three goal advantage.
After the drama and disappointment of the last two seasons Celtic are now on the brink of a return to the group phase of club football’s greatest competition.
It now looks certain that Celtic will be in the group stage which should please Lineker- especially if they are paired with Leicester City.