Celtic FC: Here We Go Ten In A Row

UEFA Champions League
Sportni park Stožice, Ljubljana
Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Olimpija Ljubljana ...3
(Valencic 38, Eleke 70 83)

CELTIC...4
(Simunovic 12, Dembele 15,Pen 63 Torres 38)

CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed his team’s fighting spirit after they battled in difficult conditions to clinch a vital victory against Olimpija Ljubljana in the Champions League qualifiers. New Bhoy, defender Jack Grimmer was watching from the stands.

Despite a nice 3-1 victory in the first leg, Celtic still had tons of work to do as their opponents gave the boys a challenge all evening long and would not let up until the final whistle.

Facing up to a vocal home crowd, a difficult playing surface and a dangerous counter-attacking Ljubljana side, Celtic worked their way to score first, when Jozo Simunovic scored a header from a Sebastian Larsson free kick. Three minutes later, Moussa Dembele scored his first goal of the season, to give Celtic a nice 5-1 aggregate lead.

Sadly for Scott Sinclair his day would be over early as a Olimpija Ljubljana defender make a very grotesque tackle leading to a Sinclair injury. James Forrest would replace him. The winger is out between 3-4 weeks with fractured ribs.

Olimpija would have their moment thirty-eight minutes in as Vitja Valencic scored a nice goal. That same minute after the restart Fernando Torres would score with a fierce shot, that will be replayed over and over. Thanks to a foul by Blessing Eleke, Moussa Dembele scored his 50th goal for Celtic on a penalty in the sixty-third minute.

Momentum quickly changed as the host started to overwhelm Celtic. In a span of twenty minutes it looked as if Celtic's chances at a win would fall apart. Blessing Eleke scored two goals for Olimpija in the seventieth and eighty-third minutes.

Despite the final push by the Slovenian side, Celtic hold on to win 4-3 (7-4 agg) and advance to the third qualifying round. Celtic will face Czech side FK Mladá Boleslav. The matches are set for 26 July and 2 August. Celtic have the honors and will start the leg at Celtic Park.

pfffft let's ignore that three goals conceded!

Great to see El Nino getting amongst the goals man!

Justice Yeah it was bad and Craig Gordon was in goal so that is a bit worrying

mgriffin2012 He has been better than I thought he would be

Brendan Rodgers on 26 July 23:23
Brendan reflects on the 1-0 victory against Mladá Boleslav.

"Jozo Simunovic had a disallowed goal tonight, how do you feel about it and was it wrongly ruled out?"

"Yeah that goal should have easily counted and I have no clue why it didn't, it was a strange night for sure."

"The victory gives Celtic a slight advantage going into the second leg, how do you feel about your chances of advancing?"

"This lead might be small but it is still a lead, we have a lot of work to do before now and then, and we also just need one or two goals to secure advancing to the playoff, I feel confident in the club."

"You have started Jason Steele for the second time this Champions League campaign, why are you not going with someone with experience like Craig and has Jason overtook him in the depth chart?"

"I signed Jason as to be our future goalkeeper and I am just giving him a shot. Craig is still our number one but after the second leg in the last round I wanted to let Craig take the night off. He is still our number one and will start against Rangers in the upcoming fixture."

"Tonight felt like referee Gianluca Rocchi had a vendetta against Celtic giving out eight cards to you against four from the away side, what did you think about his calling the game tonight."

"I might get in trouble but what the heck, this referee was a shame to the sport and was easily giving our guest the advantage all night long. We had a few goals called back, he would call fouls on every move we made and those eight cards for noting. A bit ridiculous, don't you think?"

"Moussa Dembele scored off of a penalty and that seemed to be the only thing to go your way, what do you say to that."

"He did great and I am happy he scored. Thank you and good night!"

Let's hope you don't get Barca in the group stage

narrow win, but a win's a win! need to go out and smash it in the 2nd leg

A narrow win but to echo Infra, a win is a win. These type of sides can pose a challenge as they're up for a fight against the likes of yourself. Hopefully in the second leg you can see them off.

A clean sheet! Congratulations on progression, let's see if Celtic can march on to another memorable European campaign!!

Off to a good start in this round and great for the team to be heading to the Czech Republic witha lead and a clean sheet, denying them an away goal!

Good win mate but very close. I bet Moussa is getting loads of publicity

ML Scouter Ugh that would suck, I hope I get a very easy group like last year

InfraRed Agreed, I have no clue why they struggled this match and it was very un-celtic compared to previous results this season

ScottT The second is indeed big, one goal and I am good

Justice I hope so too. Jason Steele has been my saving grace here in Champions League lol

mgriffin2012 I hope we can continue that pattern

redvee35 Did you know Benfica keeps asking to buy him for 5M lol

Last Updated: 30/07/17 3:25pm


With several new faces Celtic make a statement against rivals Rangers in first Old Firm of the 2017/18 Scottish Premiership season

Old Firm days are always special but having it open the season is even more eventful. As the new season kicks off it is always a pleasure to see the two foes go at it.

Several players on both sides made their Old Firm debut including; Celtic's Ryan Gauld and Fernando Torres. For Rangers it was only Pedro Chirivella, who is on loan from Liverpool.

The atmosphere at Ibrox was as intense as ever as over 50000 supporters got to see another classic meeting where it was all about the physical play. One side went home while the other continued their misery against their cross town rivals.

For the bulk of the match it was a chess game between Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert, each manager instructing their players to do one thing while the other countered it. This is the key reason the score was deadlocked at zero until late in the second half.

Celtic finally took the lead as Captain Scott Brown scored an effort which hit the inside of the post 72 minutes into the day. Finally it will be a day to remember for recent signing Fernando Torres. In the 84th minute the Spaniard scored what would be the deciding goal and adding to an already famous legacy, this time scoring in the old firm.

Overall it was a really enjoyable match that saw Rangers fight harder than in previous meetings. With Paul Lambert at the helm, Rangers supporters are seeing what was missing in the previous two regimes, consistency.

For Celtic it was business as usual as the streak against their foes continues. It might be taking the current group of players a bit longer to get in top gear but once they do, it will be impossible to stop them.

Celtic now face leg 2 of the Champions League Third Round against Czech side Mladá Boleslav on Wednesday. Rangers will travel to face Alloa Athletic in the final day of the Betfred Cup Group Stage.

The Old Firm returns on 28 October as the two take it to Celtic Park.

important result, and good to see Torres still has it!

NANDO!