2018-09-19: Celtic 1-0 Rosenborg, UEFA Cup

Trivia

• Europa League Matchday 1
• Round 1 8pm KO;
• Late win for Celtic with Griffiths nicking it.
• Ajer out injured. Sevco drew their game 2-2. Red Bull double header, with RB Salzburg beating RB
• Leipzig 3-2, so Salzburg top on goals scored in the group.
• First time Celtic won an opening group stage game!
• Storm Ali – the first of the autumn – battered a swathe of central Scotland with winds up to 80mph.
  Former Scottish FA president George Peat has claimed the chairman of a club urged him not to help
• Rangers at the tail end of the 2007/08 season. They won the Scottish League Cup, and hoped to win the Scottish Premier League title and the Scottish Cup, while advancing to the UEFA Cup final. Celtic won the league fair and square, this is all a joke.
• A sheriff has deserted the trial of nine Celtic supporters charged with hanging effigies at match with Sevco in 2016.Sheriff Allan Findlay hit out at prosecutors for not giving defence lawyers “full disclosure” of available evidence. The fans were charged after a league match at Parkhead in September 2016, which Celtic won 5-1. The accusations centred on effigies and a banner and were said to be “threatening and offensive”. Regardless, those effigies were a disgrace and should never have been put up, and are not reflective of the attitude of the vast Celtic support.
• Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell has insisted the champions remain committed to strengthening their playing squad but “hyperinflation” in the transfer market makes it increasingly problematic.The release of Celtic’s annual accounts have revealed the club achieved record revenue of £101.6 million in the 12 months to 30 June this year, largely as a consequence of a second consecutive season in the group stage of the Champions League. £17m pre-tax profit as revenue, costs and liabilities increase

Review

(Williebhoy of KDS)

We were taking 10 – 15 passes to reach the halfway line, no striker will score goals with such a SLOW build up…not like our midfield is creating barrowloads of chances themselves.
McGregor makes much the same runs as Rogic….most of our decent play comes from the full backs which makes me ask WHY we need two wide players who are not going forward. Both Forrest & Sinclair when he came
predominantly stood their ground taking the ball with their back to play and laying backwards. At least show the intellingence to come short or spin in behind at pace. Our lack of movement up front should be tempered with the mdifield not picking out runners so looks like they have given up looking. The balance isn't right and BR needs to sort it out. Overall though a very good result against a side on a long unbeaten run, top of the Norwegian league, brimming with confidence… compare that to Villareal – fighting relegation, playing fringe players and yet snatching a draw is seen as a tremendous result !! I know who the tougher opponent was last night and we should give the team credit for ensuring they had zero shots at goal…5 x clean sheets for the much maligned defence….Huge task to get another in Salzburg but here's hoping.

Teams

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Forum

• Pre-match https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/celtic-vs-rosenborg-pre-match-thread-20-09-8pm-ko–t134865.html?view=unread#unread
• Match https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/celtic-v-rosenborg-live-match-thread-ft-1-0-griffi-t134893.html?view=unread#unread
• Post Match https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/celtic-v-rosenborg-post-match-deep-breath-ft-1-0-g-t134894.html?view=unread#unread

MOTM

• Voting Thread https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/motm-celtic-vs-rosenborg-t134895.html?view=unread#unread
• Result Thread
• Winner –

Stats

Celtic
Rosenborg

Possession
Home64%
Away36%

Shots
Home13
Away4

Shots on Target
Home7
Away0

Corners
Home8
Away1

Fouls
Home9
Away10

Articles

Celtic 1-0 Rosenborg: Leigh Griffiths secures dramatic win
Celtic's Leigh Griffiths celebrates his late winner. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS
Celtic's Leigh Griffiths celebrates his late winner. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS
Stephen Halliday
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/celtic-1-0-rosenborg-leigh-griffiths-secures-dramatic-win-1-4803316
Having been warned by Brendan Rodgers he still has much to do in order to be regarded as Celtic’s No 1 striker, Leigh Griffiths stepped off the bench to secure a dramatic but deserved winning start for his side in Group B of the Europa League.

Griffiths’ late intervention ensured Celtic were not frustrated by a gritty but unremarkable Rosenborg side who failed to force Craig Gordon into a single save. It was something of a landmark victory for the Scottish champions. In their 14 previous group stage campaigns in European football, either in the Champions League or Europa League, they had never before won their matchday one fixture.

There is little these two sides can come up with to surprise each other, having now been drawn together three times in just over a year in European competition. That sense of familiarity was perhaps a telling factor in a contest which occasionally flickered but never truly sparked into life. While Rosenborg’s approach was a defensively diligent one for most of the evening, the visitors were not entirely without ambition.

There was some early aggression from Rini Coolen’s side whose captain Mike Jensen, as he has in the previous clashes with Celtic, consistently caught the eye. The Danish midfielder saw a shot blocked by Dedryck Boyata as Rosenborg attempted to open up on the front foot.

Celtic secured the lion’s share of possession soon enough but too often were unable to find the tempo necessary to make it count. There was an anxious moment for the hosts in the 15th minute when Issam Jebali outpaced Mikael Lustig down the left and burst into the area. The Tunisian winger went down as Lustig scrambled back to cover the threat but Rosenborg’s claims for a penalty were correctly turned down by Polish referee Pawel Gil who booked Jebali for 
simulation.

Seven minutes later, Celtic finally posted their first serious attempt at goal when Kieran Tierney forced a corner on the left. Callum McGregor swung it in to find Filip Benkovic at the far post but the on-loan Leicester City defender’s header was comfortably held by Andre Hansen.

It kick-started Celtic’s first sustained period of pressure on the Rosenborg goal and Odsonne Edouard might have done better than blaze a shot over from around 12 yards after he had been played in by Tom Rogic’s through ball.

Tierney and McGregor then linked superbly to set Olivier Ntcham free on the left side of the penalty area but the French midfielder’s low cross was cut out by the alert figure of Anders Konradsen.

Having talked up the Europa League so passionately in the build-up to the match, Tierney matched his words with the commitment of his work. The left-back was Celtic’s biggest attacking threat and he whipped an inviting ball right across the six-yard box only to find none of his team-mates had reacted quickly enough to get on the end of it.

Tierney continued to try to drive Celtic on, fizzing in a low shot from 22 yards which Hansen gathered. Three minutes before half-time, the Rosenborg keeper defied Celtic with a superb double save.

Tierney was the source of the move once more, finding Rogic just inside the area. The Australian playmaker’s first shot was blocked before his follow-up effort was parried low to his right by Hansen. The ball broke to Edouard on the corner of the six-yard box but the striker drove his shot too close to Hansen who was able to divert it on to his right-hand post and behind for a corner.

Rosenborg were forced into a change on the stroke of half-time with the influential Konradsen limping off to be replaced by Marius Lundemo but there was no doubt the visitors were the more content as they headed into the dressing room.

Celtic looked to up the pace, as they clearly needed to, after the break and Rogic wasted a glorious opportunity to make the breakthrough when he pounced on Lundemo’s error and surged clear through the middle. He had the choice of passes to Edouard or McGregor either side of him but opted to attempt a shot himself which he could only direct straight at the grateful Hansen.
Leigh Griffiths leads training at Celtic Park on Wednesday ahead of the Europa League tie in Austria against Salzburg. Picture: SNS
Brendan Rodgers says Celtic must exploit Salzburg frailty at back

Rodgers decided a double change was in order as the stalemate continued, introducing Scott Sinclair and Mikey Johnston for Rogic and Forrest just before the hour mark. The substitutes almost made a dramatic impact, young winger Johnston’s cross from the right picking out Sinclair who volleyed just wide of Hansen’s right-hand post.

Rodgers made his final switch, Edouard making way for Griffiths who duly seized his chance to make a crucial impact. With 87 minutes on the clock, Scott Brown’s long ball was nodded on by Boyata for the Scotland striker to steer a header beyond Hansen from close range.