Linfield were well beaten at Celtic Park tonight.
Don’t let the relatively tame scoreline fool you.
This was a one-sided show which we got through with ease.
We saw quality – as epitomised best by Scott Sinclair, who was superb, and Ntcham who looked cool and composed – we saw some players getting back up to speed, like Moussa, and we saw one player who’s hardly had a break but looked like he could run and run all night. Tom Rogic was great.
Our second new Bhoy Benyu came on and showed some lovely touches and contract rebel (haha I’ve been waiting to write that, I got it in before the media could) Stuart Armstrong came on to boot. He scored the final goal, in the last minute of the game.
Hayes also came on, and he looked as if he’ll do a real job for us when he gets up to speed.
Except for the last one, the goals came early, at least in the halves. We opened the scoring almost immediately, taking the lead in the fourth minute through a typical piece of Scott Sinclair skill. Rogic made it two and ended the tie one minute after the re-start. Scott got his second and our third on 56. Armstrong’s late strike was the icing on the cake, but the tie was won early doors. From the moment Tom scored we were on cruise control.
Let’s not kid ourselves, the whole of the tie was cruise control.
This is a team that knows it’s good enough not to have to break our backs on a game like this one. Sure as Hell they didn’t “play like it’s the final” and Brendan would never have asked them to. I’m certain that if he had we’d have run up the proverbial cricket score, but there was just no need for it.
Quality was always going to tell here and it did.
Scott Sinclair is a wonderful player. Big Moussa is just getting back up to speed after his injury, but if you were to watch a lot of the games last year you would swear that the winger was the £30 million player. He has everything. I love watching this guy.
Before I write another word about our European adventures I want to say that Linfield spent most of the first half chasing shadows and kicking whatever they caught. They were brutal. The ref allowed them a lot of latitude and there was one horrible moment where we all must have thought that Scott Sinclair might have to come off after one fearsome challenge.
They spent the second half chasing shadows too.
The difference was they didn’t get close enough to have a kick, which was almost certainly for the best.
The game was still going on when the final whistle blew in Rosenborg tonight. They had been held by plucky Dundalk for the 90 minutes; it finished a 1-1 draw. They won the match in extra time, but as I said in my piece when the draw was made the Irish game them a game, and one Hell of a fright. They very nearly pulled it off. I don’t know what that means about the Norwegians; they are entitled to our full respect, but they are clearly beatable.
In many ways, this is the perfect Champions League tie, one against a decent side who can play a bit and have a physical edge to their game. They are no mugs. They will make us work hard. But that’s what we want at this stage.
These two games will be a measure of how far this Celtic team has come in the last 12 months.
It will be a different game to this one. It will be a different two-legged tie. The match in Norway will be interesting, but I think we can tie it up at Celtic Park next week.
We now know where we’re going and what we have to do.
We have a week to prepare.