Celtic put five past Slovan Bratislava to begin CL campaign in style

Five-star Celtic thumped Slovan Bratislava 5-1 to kick off their UEFA Champions League campaign in style.

Celtic applied pressure from the first whistle and after 17 minutes they had the lead. Arne Engels’ corner was met by Liam Scales who thumped his header past Dominik Takac.

Brendan Rodgers’ side scored their second less than two minutes into the second half, with Nicolas Kuhn firing a ball across the face of goal for Kyogo Furuhashi to tap home from close range.

Ten minutes later, Arne Engels made it 3-0 from the penalty spot to put clear daylight between the two sides. Slovan Bratislava did have a reason to celebrate four minutes later when Kevin Wimmer curled home a beauty to make it 3-1 – Slovan’s first goal in the Champions League.

Just 10 minutes later, Daizen Maeda restored Celtic’s three-goal advantage, firing home past Takac.

Substitute Adam Idah put the icing on the cake five minutes from time, poking home first time after a brilliant pass from James Forrest.

It’s safe to say Celtic have suffered in the Champions League in recent years. Before tonight, the Bhoys had won just one of their last 16 matches in the competition proper, losing 12 of those in the process.

Tonight though, Celtic looked more mature, more disciplined and more experienced on this stage. In the past couple of years, Celtic have had games where they held a good account of themselves, matches against Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar and Real Madrid spring to mind, big European nights where the Bhoys just didn’t have the maturity to take their chances, especially when on top. Celtic were at their ruthless best tonight.

This emphatic five-star victory, coupled with their win against Feyenoord on MD6 last season, means Celtic have won back-to-back matches in the competition for the first time since 2007, and Rodgers will have faith that this Celtic team can have a real go at the Champions League this season. Key players like Furuhashi, Maeda, Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate now all have good experience in the competition and will be key in helping Celtic navigate those big European games. Celtic will have tougher tests than they had tonight, but with games to come against the likes of Club Brugge, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb and Leipzig, there’s no reason Celtic can’t get more points on the board this season.

In truth, seven or eight Celtic players could have won the Player of the Match award such was the quality of their display tonight, but Arne Engels really stood out. Celtic’s record signing provided the assist for Liam Scales’ opening goal, whipping in a wonderful corner. Engels had a couple of efforts on target that he was unlucky not to score but finally got his goal, coolly converting a penalty to put Celtic 3-0 up. He made six tackles, one interception, won nine duels and was confident on the ball all night, only misplacing four of his 49 attempted passes. A superb individual performance.

Celtic: Schmeichel 6, Johnston 8, Carter-Vickers 7, Scales 8, Taylor 7, Engels 9, McGregor 7, Hatate 7, Kuhn 8, Kyogo 7, Maeda 7 Subs: Forrest 7, Ralston 7, Bernardo 6, Idah 7, Trusty N/A

Slovan Bratislava: Takac 7, Wimmer 6, Bajric 6, Kashia 6, Blackman 6, Kucka 6, Ignatenko 6, Weiss 6, Tolic 6, Barseghyan 6, Strelec 6 Subs: Savvidis 6, Marcelli 6, Mak 6, Gajdos N/A, Metsoko N/A

12’ A HUGE CHANCE FOR CELTIC – Celtic take a corner kick quickly, Greg Taylor floats in a great cross to Daizen who has an unmarked header from six-yards out but puts it straight at the goalkeeper. Anywhere else on target and that is a certain Celtic goal!

17’ GOAL! CELTIC 1-0 SLOVAN BRATISLAVA – Liam Scales has put Celtic 1-0 up! Arne Engels fires in a brilliant whipped corner and Scales is on hand to head home.

47’ GOAL! CELTIC 2-0 SLOVAN BRATISLAVA – Kyogo has made it 2-0 to Celtic inside two minutes of the second half! Kuhn does brilliantly down the right-hand side to whip in a cross and Kyogo is on hand to tap home from just a couple of yards out.

57’ GOAL! CELTIC 3-0 SLOVAN BRATISLAVA – Arne Engels makes it 3-0 with a fabulous penalty. The Belgian stepped up to stroke home into the bottom right-hand corner.

60’ GOAL! CELTIC 3-1 SLOVAN BRATISLAVA – Kevin Wimmer has scored an outrageous goal with the outside of his boot! That is Slovan’s first ever goal in the UEFA Champions League.

70’ GOAL! CELTIC 4-1 SLOVAN BRATISLAVA – Daizen Maeda has surely wrapped up all three points for Celtic now! Kyogo finds Hatate who slips it into Daizen who fires past the goalkeeper!

86’ GOAL! CELTIC 5-1 SLOVAN BRATISLAVA – Adam Idah makes it 5-1 to Celtic! James Forrest slips in a fantastic ball between the Slovan Bratislava defence and Adam Idah pokes home first time. A superb goal.