The Hoops produced a confident display in Brendan Rodgers’ competitive home debut.
The Champions League trophy
A comfortable three-nil victory at Parkhead last night saw Celtic overturn a first-leg defeat to the Lincoln Red Imps and progress into the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
Last week’s embarrassing loss at the hands of the Gibraltan minnows was an unfortunate start to the Brendan Rodgers era but his team came out of the blocks flying yesterday in a bid to put that right.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers
The Hoops should have been awarded a penalty early on but had to settle for a free-kick after Stuart Armstrong was clearly fouled inside the box.
They didn’t have to wait much longer for the breakthrough however, with Mikael Lustig finishing well on 23 minutes after a scramble in the box following his return from injury.
Celtic quickly gained the advantage courtesy of a fantastic Leigh Griffiths strike from the edge of the box three minutes later to put themselves firmly in cruise control.
Celtic’s Patrick Roberts
Rodgers’ men continued to pin back their hapless opponents and duly made it three on the 29th minute when the ever-dangerous Patrick Roberts jinked his way past two men before playing a one-two with Callum McGregor and cooly slotting into the bottom corner.
The Hoops would have had added a few more to their goal tally were it not for some heroics by Red Imps keeper Navas Paul, but Rodgers will consider the night a job well done.
Celtic face Kazakhstani side FK Astana in the next round and will need to be at their best to navigate a tricky tie.
We’ve provided a section of the best pictures from last night’s game below:
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