As with most things Celtic I’m usually pretty nervous come kick off time. And so when LASK scored in 29 seconds I feared for the night ahead. Thankfully this goal, a cracker BTW, was flagged offside. The score remained 0-0 and I was able to breathe one very large sigh of relief.
Shots from Duran, the first Colombian to play for Scotland's premier club, in the 7th and 9th min showed Celtic were capable of getting behind the LASK defence and causing problems.
However at the other end the speedy Nigerian Moses Usor made life difficult for a Celtic defence lacking pace.
The breakthrough coming from the boot of Benjamin Nygren in the 26th minute was well worth the wait. A left foot half volley into the top corner of the LASK net sent the stadium into raptures along with the millions watching at home, in bars and other places around the world.
A moment of warning for Celtic as a beautiful cross into the box met the head of LASK's big USA striker Samuel Adeniran who fortunately for Celtic fans was rightly judged to be offside. A second LASK celebration cut short.
Then the second moment of pure footballing magic: a volley from the 18 yard line thundered from the boot of star man Duran and crashed into the net. The Hoops were 2-0 ahead. The stuff dreams are made of. His first at Celtic Park and one we and he will never forget.
Celtic were in the driving seat and in the second half a McGregor shot came crashing back off the post showed the Bhoys were in the mood for more. And so it transpired in the 67th minute when some world class link up play between Nygren and Duran created the opportunity for the South American to fire home his second.
On the night Celtic were formidable and probably the best they’ve been for a quite some considerable time.
Martin O’Neill's men have one foot in the champions league group stage. It’s all in their hands with the return leg played on Tuesday 25th August.
Here’s hoping 🤞
Meanwhile the picture is less rosy on the other side of the city. Regular readers will know that despite by obvious preferences I try to remain unbiased. But right now it’s difficult to look at The Rangers as anything other than a very very poor imitation of the great teams of the past that played at that stadium in those shirts.
McInnes has spent money, a lot of money and still the threat appears to be missing. One swallow does not make a summer and as pointed out last week beating a poor St Mirren side may have looked good on paper but the football isn’t a great watch.
Rangers are floundering in the Conference League, most certainly not where they hoped to be but a situation of their own making.
So when they took to the pitch against a team ranked outside the top 150 in UEFA rankings, Rangers themselves ranked 49, I’m sure the home fans expected an easy goal-laden Thursday evening.
What transpired was pitiful to say the least.
Don’t get me wrong there are players at the club who can turn on the magic but honestly, and I’m sure Rangers fans would agree, most look well out of their depth.
There’s a massive difference playing for a club like Hearts where finishing in the top six and perhaps a trophy every few years will suffice, to turning up at Ibrox where you’re expected to win every game, where fans desperate for success put enormous pressure on the players. It can be all too much for some.
Rangers scrambled over the line in this one. After the half time boos, an all too common phenomenon at “The big hoose” , the second half was only slightly better. Some nice interplay managed to land the ball at the feet of Naderi, and the big German (whom we pointed out as one to watch last season - little self promotion here 🤣 - I need it believe me as you’ll see)) tapped home to give the home side a 1-0 victory. A horror tackle by Cammy Devlin in the 74th minute was originally missed by the referee but having been called over to the monitor the man in the middle saw what we all saw and Devlin walked. All I’ll say about this is if you lunged at someone on the street like this you’d have been arrested for assault and in all honesty the victim of this is incredibly lucky not to have sustained a very serious injury.
In other European news Motherwell's disastrous week continued as they lost 3-1 at home to Frieburg. With an away leg to come it’s an uphill task for the Steel men. Hibernian managed a respectable 0-0 against Belgian side Gent.
Hearts also gained some credibility with a 2-2 home draw with Rapid Vienna.
Outside of Scotland,Shamrock Rovers drew 1-1 at home with Finnish side KuPS and Larne took care of Lincoln Red Imps with a comfortable 2-0 away victory.
Celtic lost away to Lincoln Red Imps on July 12th 2016, so I guess it’s only right I acknowledge Larne doing what Celtic couldn’t.
Anyhow . . .
With second leg European ties to look forward to the SPL was postponed this weekend with only one game taking place but a mouthwatering prospect (or so it seemed) of a Dundee derby to wrap up your Saturday night.
I don’t like to climb down, I’d rather hide than admit I was wrong but I was so wrong about Dundee United.
Against Celtic, despite coming out on the wrong side of a 4-0 drubbing, I could see promise in their play. This was however absent completely from their game at home to their rivals. They looked disjointed, disorganised, never looked like a threat to the Dundee defence and got everything they deserved.
A 2-0 victory for Dundee was fully deserved and questions must be asked about Goodwin's management of the club. I suspect he’s living very much on borrowed time.
Whilst scouring fan forums and reports on this game I was desperately trying to find some words of encouragement for fans of the club once known as Dundee Hibernian. Sadly there’s nothing. United were outdone in every department and the five minute walk back to Dens Park for the away team (tradition has it that teams walk to the opposition's ground in this derby such is the proximity of both grounds) must have filled them with confidence going forward.
For fans of United it looks bleak and while it’s early days, losing as well as winning can become a habit and, in the words of the band “Chicago”, a hard habit to break.
Scottish Championship news: last weeks giant killers Stenhousemuir remain top of the table after a 2-0 victory over bottom of the table Queen’s Park.
Partick and Raith Rovers also share top spot, with Partick having drawn with Inverness on Friday night, dropping two points in the process, and Raith Rovers taking care of business with a 2-0 victory over the men from Somerset Park, Ayr United.
League One and Hamilton remain a point clear at the top after a less than convincing 0-0 draw at The Bayview Stadium, the home of East Fife. Second place Ross County closed the gap to within a point with a comfortable over Airdrie. East Kilbride in third however crashed to an unexpected humiliation at the hands of Montrose, who proved my fears of last week to be unfounded, in a 3-0 victory that lifts Montrose “The Gable endes” as they’re known, off the foot of the table.
Finally last but not least League Two.
Clyde continue to head the table with a 3-0 victory over Forfar who now sit third. Second place Elgin fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Spartans. Much to keep the 445 in attendance with both sides awarded a penalty and incident galore with the away fans having to endure a 234 mile round trip if not the score they hoped for. As Maximus Decimus Meridius yelled in the 2000 movie Gladiator “were you not entertained”? The answer must be a resounding yes.
Keilty Hearts overcame Dumbarton 3-1 to remain within touching distance of the top of the table with three points separating the four clubs.
Premiership action returns on the 29th with Celtic at home to Falkirk, and on Sunday Rangers away to Aberdeen which will be shown on Sky Sports at 12pm.
So that’s a week that belonged to Celtic, to Duran in particular. Onward and upward troops.
Have a great week, whatever you’re doing have fun, stay safe and take care.
Til next time ……
🐼 Gary Robertson is the TPQ Scottish football correspondent.
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