Last night Celtic FC managed to decisively win their Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava with 5-1.
To the enjoyment of a packed Celtic Park The Bhoys dominated from the start of the game. In the 17th minute Liam Scales made the first of the night by heading the ball into the net out of a corner.
Kyogo Furuhashi doubled the scoring to 2-0 early in the second half. The Japanese striker was quick to respond to a cross from Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn and fumbled the ball into the net with his hip. Not much later Arne Engels solidified the lead by netting a penalty.
In the 60th minute Slovan Bratislava did something back via defender Kevin Wimmer, who managed to get a clean strike on target from inside the Celtic box and make it 3-1. But Celtic wasn’t fuzzed by the Bratislava goal and went on scoring another via Daizen Maeda. The Japanese international received the ball at the edge of the box and placed the ball in the bottom right corner. Substitute striker Adam Idah scored the last of the night in the 86th minute, shoving the ball passed the goalkeeper after a deep pass into the box to make it 5-1.
In front of the BBC camera manager Brendan Rodgers praised his team’s quality performance and mentality. ”It was an absolutely outstanding performance and result. We got the lead. It was a great ball in. A really good header. We had some other chances in the first half, and then we reiterated a couple of things at half time. And in the second half just wow. Just the greed of the players, the hunger, the pressing, the counter pressing, just the mentality of the team, I was so proud. And obviously the quality of the goals that was sensational.”
The 5-1 victory is Celtic their biggest Champions League win to date and their first in the new League phase set up of the top European competition. Celtic’s next European confrontation awaits on 1 October, when The Bhoys will visit Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
