REGARDE- Stunning pictures as the French bhoys go to town on Rosenborg
It won’t go down as a classic European night but no one should underestimate the importance of coming from behind to beat Rosenborg 3-1.
The lack of transfer activity combined with a burst of injuries had set a rather depressing tone before the match which was highlighted by Rosenborg scoring the opening goal. Surely Cork City wasn’t awaiting?
With a gentle change to formation Celtic upped their game, overcame some poor refereeing and levelled before the break.
The half time interval perhaps halted some momentum but in those 15 minutes Brendan Rodgers made his plans very clear with Olivier Ntcham underlining the belief in the side with a brilliant second goal.
It was a minor miracle that Rosenborg only lost one more goal, their keeper was inspired and the woodwork kindly to the Norwegian side.
On this form Celtic can look for a morale boosting win in Norway to reach the midpoint in the qualification marathon.
None of the teams in the qualification process will fancy playing Celtic- after last night’s performance the players will be filled with belief that they can reach the group phase for the third season running.
NICE ONE OLLY!
From the moment he received the ball he knew exactly what he was doing, he eyed up the postage stamp corner and delivered his shot perfectly.
It was the goal that the game needed- a stamp of quality and put the Norwegian champions on the back foot for the remainder of the match. This boy is going to have a massive impact on the domestic and European campaign ahead.
JUST LIKE HENRIK
Odsonne Edouard anticipated the pass brilliantly, what happened next wasn’t anticipated by many inside the ground.
The Rosenborg keeper had been in inspired form but the moment he went to ground was an invite for our striker to dink the ball over him and into the net#LARSSONESQUE
THE TWELFTH MAN
The best European nights are when the whole ground is joining in leaving the Green Brigade with the role of leaders rather than the only pocket of noise and atmosphere.
A few first half decisions against the hoops got the fans fired up, by the time the second half got under way and Olivier Ntcham’s effort hit the back of the net the Rosenborg players knew that they were in for a long uncomfortable evening.
NOT BAD FOR A THIRD CHOICE
As third choices go Odsonne has certainly made his mark, his spring scoring run prompting the Celtic boss to put together a club record fee of around £6m to bring him back on a permanent basis.
It probably won’t take long before there is speculation about his departure from Celtic but he’ll be here for a while yet and looks to be the early favourite to top the scoring charts ahead of Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths.
REMEMBER GAMBOA?
Last season he found himself behind Mikael Lustig, Tony Ralston and Jack Hendry for a game at right-back but there were no huffs or tantrums as he sat things out.
He could have pulled a hamstring before last night but instead grabbed his chance, buckled down and lay out a more than decent case to continue as first choice right-back. He’ll enjoy the trip back to Norway next week.
MEET THE DEFENCE
The younger of the pair, Kris Ajer was chucked in at the deep end last season, after Astrana away it took a while for him to resurface but he has had an outstanding 2018 with a good claim to be the most influential player in the side.
Jack Hendry has had to adapt to playing right-back in a very attack minded side, now he could be given a run in central defence and just needs to emulate the success of his Norwegian team-mate.
THE SWITCH
Switching James Forrest back onto the wing, Callum McGregor into the ‘Rogic role’ and it was just like the good old days as Celtic poured forward from all angles to rattle Rosenborg.
Forrest caused them bother last season in Norway, he’ll probably do the same again next week with their fair haired left-back turned inside out as Jamesey hared up and down the flank causing havoc.
WE’LL BE SEEING MORE OF THIS
He showed that he has the game for the big occasion with three goals in two appearances against Sevco that set up the SPFL triumph.
Now that he has an eye on the Champions League he could be the man to take us all the way through the qualification campaign, where do we keep unearthing these French strikers from?
THE ROOKIE REF
Odsonne Edouard had a very clear penalty claim waved away in the first half with a number of baffling decisions that got the support right behind the Celtic side.
Among the many dodgy decisions was this one to book Brown and award Rosenborg a free kick in a very dangerous position, a few minutes earlier Brown had been decked in the build up to the Rosenborg goal.
AFTER HUDDLE
After an intense pep talk from Broonie with the atmosphere building it’s time to get started as the players burst away in different directions.
The serious action is about to begin, with close to 60,000 fans looking in there can’t be a finer sight or feeling in the game.