Europa League Group Stages
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Celtic Park, Glasgow

CELTIC…2
(Edouard 20, Elyounoussi 59)

CFR CLUJ…0

CELTIC extracted revenge on CFR Cluj with a thrilling 2-0 win in the UEFA Europa League. Neil Lennon’s side made it another memorable European night at Paradise as they dominated their opponents to move top of Group E.

Odsonne Edouard put the Hoops in front in the first half and Mohamed Elyounoussi scored his first Celtic goal to make it 2-0 early in the second period.

Celtic started with a good tempo and it wasn’t long before the Cluj defence began to show cracks under the pressure of Celtic’s attacking play.

Christopher Jullien almost opened the scoring after 10 minutes when he got on the end of Callum McGregor’s cross, but his header was saved by goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis. The French defender continued to trouble the opposition defence with his aerial ability and came close with a second attempt moments later from a Boli Bolingoli cross.

After a few chances created out on the left flank, Ryan Christie and James Forrest worked a wonderful opportunity on the opposite wing. Christie fed in Forrest who drilled a low pass into the six-yard box which was inches out of reach for Edouard.

With the quality of delivery into the box it was only a matter of time before Celtic found the back of the net and the breakthrough came after 20 minutes.

McGregor started the move with an excellent defence-splitting pass through to Bolingoli. The Belgian showed great pace to keep the ball in and chipped a cross into the box which Edouard headed into the net.

A flurry of chances then followed after the goal. Bolingoli drew a gasp from the home support when his shot with the outside of his left foot flashed just over the crossbar. Scott Brown wasn’t far off with attempt from distance while Edouard’s effort from the edge of the area was blocked by Andrei Burca.

Cluj rarely threatened going forward but the Romanian side had a chance near the end of the first half when they broke forward on the counter-attack. Mario Rondon dribbled his way into the box and cut inside before trying to con the referee into a penalty and was booked for diving.

A Celtic counter-attack early in the second period almost ended in a second goal for the home side. Forrest picked the ball up just inside the Cluj half, drove into the box and tried to pick out Elyounoussi with a low cross towards the back post, but it was too far in front of the Norwegian winger.

The pair linked up again shortly afterwards to give Celtic the second goal they thoroughly deserved. Elyounoussi collected the ball just inside Celtic’s half and quickly fed in Forrest who darted down the wing and into the penalty area. He had Edouard and McGregor inside a crowded box so instead cut a pass back for Elyounoussi. The Hoops winger took a touch and fired off a shot which found its way into the bottom corner of the net.

Cluj responded with a brief period of pressure and Fraser Forster made an excellent save to prevent Ciprian Deac’s powerful shot across goal find the back of the net. Going two goals behind forced the visitors to come out more but the Celtic defence worked diligently to ensure they did not have any clear cut chances in front of goal.

Cluj’s attempts to create an avenue back into the game was to Celtic’s advantage. Neil Lennon’s side hit Cluj on the break and were unfortunate not to increase their lead. Edouard linked up well with the rest of the Hoops attack and nearly set Forrest up with a through ball into the box, but the keeper rushed off his line to collect.

Elyounoussi whipped a low cross into the box which Christie met but the midfielder couldn’t direct the ball on target. Christie had another glimpse at goal from around 20 yards but he dragged his shot wide.

Celtic continued to assert their dominance on the tie late in the game and thoroughly deserved the victory with an impressive Europa League performance.

CELTIC: Forster; Elhamed, Jullien, Ajer, Bolingoli; Brown, McGregor, Elyounoussi, Forrest (Hayes 84), Christie (Ntcham 88); Edouard
Subs: Gordon, Bauer, Bitton, Sinclair, Rogic

Arlauskis; BurcÄƒ, Aurélio (Culio 56), DjokoviÄ‡ (Hoban 81), Omrani, Deac, SušiÄ‡, Boli, Bordeianu, Camora, Rondón (Paun 70)
Subs: Fernandez, Golofca, Peteleu, Mike

Website Man of the Match: James Forrest

Celtic top Europa League group with impressive win over Cluj