No one associated with Celtic Football Club is pleased to be in the Europa League, given their catastrophic and ignominious Champions League exit at the hands of Kairat, but now here, they’re desperate to make a good go of it.
Well, on Wednesday night, the Hoops did make a positive start to the league phase, holding Red Star Belgrade to a 1-1 draw at Stadion Rajko Mitić.
Brendan Rodgers’ side were probably the better side throughout, unlucky not to leave the Serbian capital with all three points, looking exponentially better than they did in Almaty during their last European fixture a month ago, that’s for sure.
Next Thursday, Braga will visit Parkhead, with home games against Sturm Graz, Roma and Utrecht to come thereafter, while the Celts will also travel to Midtjylland, Feyenoord and Bologna.
If Celtic are going to secure a top eight finish, and then make a deep run in the Europa League knockout stages, they’ll need the “fearless” attacker to continue to impress, as he did at the Marakana on Wednesday.
Kelechi Iheanacho scores again
When Kelechi Iheanacho signed for Celtic, there was plenty of skepticism and rightly so.
After Adam Idah had been sold to Swansea for £7m, the Hoops were left without a senior centre-forward at the time the transfer window slammed shut, only able to sign Iheanacho because Sevilla agreed to terminate his contract.
The Nigerian failed to score a single La Liga goal for los Nervionenses, having not reached double figures in a single campaign since 2020/21, but that fact looks like changing, even at this early stage.
Iheanacho marked his debut in hoops by converting a stoppage time penalty at Kilmarnock to snatch a 2-1 victory at Rugby Park.
He then opened the scoring in Belgrade on Wednesday with an excellent finish, having been introduced as a half-time substitute, a goal that Joe Hart, speaking on commentary for TNT Sports, described as “ice-cold”.
The one-time Manchester City striker was also compared to Odsonne Édouard, praised for his “clean touch” and “intelligent movement”.
Goals
1
1st
Shots on target
3
1st
Big chances missed
2
1st
Expected goals
1.02
1st
Touches
14
23rd
Average SofaScore rating
7.3
6th
By accident, more than by design, Celtic appear to have landed a top-class centre-forward, but it was another one of the Hoops’ summer recruits who particularly caught the eye in Belgrade.
'Fearless' Celtic star catching the eye
While Celtic supporters are generally furious at the board’s inactivity in the transfer market, they surely have to be pleased with the signing of Benjamin Nygren, arriving from Nordsjælland for just £1.7m back in July, which looks like an absolute bargain.
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Most assumed that the Sweden international was coming in to replace Nicolas Kühn on the right wing, having played a lot of his football in Denmark out-wide, but from day one he has been part of Rodgers’ first-choice midfield trio.
In just his second appearance for the club, Nygren opened the scoring against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, before also netting twice against Livingston a week later.
On Wednesday, he really stepped up and came to the fore, given a 7/10 by the Herald, who note that he grew into the game after the interval, seeing a decent opportunity smartly saved by Matheus, before turning provider to play the ball through to Iheanacho for the night’s opener.
Earlier this year, now the most expensive player in British football history, Alexander Isak, who is Nygren’s international teammate, labelled him “fearless”, adding “it was very good to play with Benjamin… playing with a winger like that who is able to provide good crosses can only be beneficial” for a striker.
During his time at previous club Nordsjælland, Nygren scored five goals in five Conference League appearances, including a hat-trick against Fenerbahçe, and is showing that he is capable of making the step-up to an even higher level of European competition.
That was evident on Wednesday night, as he completed 100% of his attempted dribbles and provided three key passes, as per Sofascore, starring in that creative attacking berth for Rodgers’ side.
When Braga travel to Parkhead next Thursday, if Celtic are going to get their first Europa League win on the board, the Swede in midfield is likely to be central to their hopes.
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