WHEN Christopher Jullien headed home Celtic’s second goal of the night against Lazio, Paradise erupted, but while many would have thought it heralded a home win, the Italian side still surged forward in the five added minutes, looking for an equaliser.

And that nearly came with 30 second remaining. A blistering 20-yard volley from substitute, Danilo Cataldi was heading into the top corner of the net before Fraser Forster leapt across his goal and pushed the ball away.

It was a breathtaking save from the English internationalist, one that his manager described as ‘world-class’ after the game, which Celtic won 2-1.

“I know what Fraser’s capable of and he’s starting to show that. He makes saves other goalkeepers can’t make,” said Neil Lennon. “The block from Parolo was a brilliant save, too. You saw the two world-class saves he made.

“That’s why we brought him in. You need your goalkeeper in big games to perform and he’s certainly adapted to that.”

And the Celtic manager also praised his winning goalscorer. Jullien was impressive at the heart of the defence alongside Kristoffer Ajer, while he popped up with a 89th-minute goal, heading home a Ryan Christie corner.

“I thought he was outstanding, a rock,” said the Hoops boss. “It’s not often we come up against one quality striker, but two. I thought Caciedo was a handful, Correa and then Immobile coming on.

“He handled them as well as anyone could be expected to, and then to go on and get the winner capped off an all-round great performance.

“My captain was outstanding, too, absolutely brilliant. When we really needed him, he was always there and he was leading the team. At 34, for me, he’s getting better and better.

“There were some great individual performances. You can see it’s a learning curve for some of the players as well, and there was a bit of naivety at times in our play, but it was a great performance and result.”

Having won the first part of the double-header against Lazio, the Hoops will head to Rome at the start of November, looking to take some points from the Stadio Olimpico clash while anticipating an equally tough clash.

“Ideally you go there to try and win the game.” said Neil Lennon. “On the evidence of the game at Celtic Park, we know how difficult that’ll be, but we’ll prepare the team as best as we can when that game comes around.

“It’s a game we’ve been looking forward to since the draw was made. It was a titanic game at home, the atmosphere was spectacular, both teams competed brilliantly and I expect the game to be similar in Rome.

“If we can get a positive result there then fantastic and we’ll go there with a positive frame of mind.”

Manager praises his goalkeeper for world-class saves