Celtic 4 – 2 Utrecht

Celtic 4 – 2 Utrecht

Celtic beat Utrecht 4-2 at Parkhead to earn a spot in next month’s Europa League playoffs.

The Scottish Premiership champions did the job early as Martin O’Neill’s facet went 3-0 up inside only 19 minutes due to strikes from Benjamin Nygren, a Nick Viergever personal purpose and an Arne Engels penalty, the club’s earliest-ever three-purpose lead in a major European game.

The opener got here after a effectively-labored purpose following a brief nook as Kieran Tierney acquired to the byline and pulled the pull again for Nygren to score from shut vary, the tall Swede’s 14th purpose already of a formidable campaign.

The hosts soon doubled their lead after a list of errors at the again from Utrecht as first former Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas’s under-hit move out from the again was intercepted by that man Nygren.

And the ahead’s low ball across the box was become his personal web by the unlucky Nick Viergever as the customer’s skipper stretched to intercept.

It then went from dangerous to worse for the Eredivisie facet when Dani de Wit was harshly adjudged to have dealt with Auston Trusty’s shut-vary header from a nook, with Engels doing the relaxation from the spot.

However, Celtic misplaced their manner before half-time, maybe pondering the game was over, with De Wit sweeping residence from the fringe of the box and when Adrian Blake also discovered the web from distance after a swift counter just past the hour mark, residence nerves started to jangle.

Not for lengthy, though, with the residence team soon restoring their two-purpose cushion as Trusty rose highest in the six-yard box to nod residence Engels’s inviting ball in from a nook to substantiate their place in the playoffs on February 19 and 26, with Friday’s draw set to substantiate their opponents – both Stuttgart or Ferencvaros.

What’s developing for Celtic?

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