Celtic won 2-0 in Belfast tonight, but ugly scenes marred the win somewhat.
Celtic put one foot in the next qualification stage of the Champions League by beating Linfield in Belfast tonight.
First-half goals from Scott Sinclair and Tom Rogic helped Celtic to a 2-0 victory over David Healy’s side and next week’s return leg in Glasgow should be a formality.
With Linfield from a predominantly protestant part of Belfast, the visit of Celtic – who are traditionally from a catholic background – was re-scheduled to avoid coinciding with the Twelfth of July celebrations and Orange Order parades in Northern Ireland this week.
Around 40 enormous bonfires were part of the celebrations, and Hoops winger Sinclair was the victim of racism at one of them as a banner with his name on it was present at one site.
The Scottish champions did not release an allocation of tickets for their fans to travel to the clash as a precautionary measure, given the week that was in it.
Yet there was still ugly scenes during the match as Leigh Griffiths found himself the target of objects from Linfield fans when he ventured over to the corner flag, before the Scot was booked for perceived time wasting after removing the missiles – including a glass bottle.
As a result, former Premier League striker Stan Collymore appeared to criticise referee Alejandro Hernandez for the decision, but was happy with the result.
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