UEFA Europa League
Play-off Round, First leg
Celtic Park, Glasgow
Thursday, August 22, 2019

CELTIC… 2
(Forrest 48, Edouard 72)

AIK… 0

CELTIC defeated Swedish champions AIK in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off round this evening (Thursday) with a confident 2-0 win.

Goalless at half-time, James Forrest opened the scoring shortly after break, before a sublime Odsonne Edouard free-kick from 25 yards ensured Neil Lennon’s men travel to Stockholm next week with a strong lead.

The Scottish champions had much of the possession in the opening stages of the game, passing decisively across the pitch as they sought to unpick a deep-lying AIK. Throughout, James Forrest and Mikey Johnston posed a threat from their respective flanks, while Ryan Christie looked dominant in central areas.

On 15 minutes, Christie combined well with the overlapping Odsonne Edouard, whose resulting shot from 12 yards found the back of the net, but was ruled offside. Four minutes after that, Boli Bolingoli served a deadly cut-back from the left touchline to Johnston, but the 20-year-old’s shot was deflected out for a corner.

The set-piece was ultimately punched clear by Oscar Linner between the sticks, before Bolingoli recycled the attack with a deep looping cross for Christopher Jullien, but the Frenchman’s header was well held by the AIK stopper.

On 25 minutes, Edouard lost his man on the edge of the box, before forcing a fine two-handed save from Linner to win his side a corner. From the resulting set-piece, Kris Ajer had strong claims for a penalty waved away by referee Tomas Bognar, before Callum McGregor endured the same minutes after that.

On 34 minutes, the visitors gleaned their first half-chance of the match when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s goal-bound shot was blocked by Scott Brown at close-range.

From the start of the second-half, the Hoops pressed their opponents deep and played much of their football in the visitors’ final third. On 47 minutes, Kris Ajer was brought down on the right-side of the penalty area, before McGregor pounced on the loose ball and rifled a fine right-foot at goal, tipped over by Linner.

A minute later, Neil Lennon’s men got the break they deserved when Bolingoli cut across the inside-right channel, before getting the break of the ball to find Forrest to his right. The 28-year-old winger, who had scored in four successive games before this evening, fired the ball into the net despite a strong hand from the AIK keeper.

Buoyed by their goal, Celtic continued to press AIK into their own half. On 51 minutes, Christie was unfortunate not to double his side’s lead when he carved a path through the middle, before forcing another good stop to Linner’s right.

To their credit, AIK defended resolutely for the next 20 minutes of the match, often doubling up on the likes of Christie and Johnston – and it was an indirect result of the latter’s tidy footwork that allowed Celtic to score their second of the evening.

After being fouled 25 yards from goal, Johnston won his side a free-kick in a dangerous area. With both Christie and Edouard standing over the set-piece, it was the Frenchman who duly stepped up, curling a sumptuous right-foot up and over the wall into the top corner, with Linner at full-stretch.

With 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Callum McGregor was close to putting the tie out of sight when he latched on to a long through-ball from Edouard inside his own half, but he saw his shot zip just wide of the mark.

Two minutes later, substitute Olivier Ntcham tested Linner from range. The keeper then made a fine double save from Edouard then second sub Morgan, before AIK cleared their lines.

Celtic’s third substitute of the night, Bayo, tried his luck with a well-struck drive to the far right of the penalty box deep into injury time, but the match finished 2-0. Celtic now face AIK on the road next week as they target qualification to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.

CELTIC: Gordon; Bolingoli, Jullien, Simunovic, Ajer; Brown, McGregor, Forrest (Ntcham 82), Christie, Johnston (Morgan 82); Edouard (Bayo 84)
Subs not used: Hazard, Hayes, Bitton, Griffiths

AIK: Linner, Granli, Karlsson, Larsson, Adu, Lindkvist, Bahoui (Saletros 70), Mets, Lundstrom (Rashidi 87), Sigthorsson (Obasi 72) Goitom
Subs not used: Janosevic, Dimitriadis, Michel, Hussein

Website Man of the Match: Ryan Christie

French Eddy free-kick lifts the roof in confident Europa League win