Stale Solbakken’s side have it all to do at Parkhead after Fraser Forster made an outstanding second-half save to give Neil Lennon and co the advantage.
Fraser Forster was Celtic’s Europa League hero once again on Thursday, and Copenhagen coach Stale Solbakken put aside his disappointment to pay tribute to a goalkeeper at the peak of his powers while speaking to TipsBladet.
Whisper it, but a Southampton loanee is arguably performing better right now than he ever did during that superb first spell at Parkhead.
Forster has been nothing short of a revelation since returning to the green half of Glasgow over the summer and he came to Celtic’s rescue, not for the first time, in the Danish capital during a Europa League round-of-32 first leg.
After Ryan Christie had handled the ball inside the area, Forster used every inch of his 6ft 7ins frame to tip a powerful Jens Stage penalty onto the post and away from goal.
An outstanding piece of goalkeeping means the tie is all square at 1-1 heading into the return leg, and Solbakken was understandably left wondering what might have been.
“Jens Stage scored on penalties for the reserve team last Monday in front of 64 spectators. There, he was bomb-proof, but today was a slightly different backdrop,” a former Wolves coach admitted.
“He was read by (Forster), but it was no bad penalty. It was a good rescue.”
“We played a top European match in the second half and, in the last 25 minutes, the Celtic players did nothing but look at the clock.”
At the other end of the pitch, Celtic talisman Odsonne Edouard endured a rather mixed night.
It was his sublime chip that gave the Hoops a valuable away goal at the Parken Stadium but, on another day, a usually ruthless Frenchman could have walked away with the match ball after missing three close-range chances.
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