AS THE REST of us furrow our brows and list our pros and cons to decide on our view of the new Champions League format, Celtic have already enthusiastically returned their verdict.
Perhaps no club is going to get more out of this new league phase than Celtic. They were caught in a pretty miserable purgatory in the old group stage format: for years they have been much too good for their domestic league, but not good enough to compete properly in Europe.
Hence why you’ve read so many pitiful stats ahead of tonight’s game: before tonight, Celtic had never won any of their 12 opening-night Champions League matches, and Brendan Rodgers’ record is ugly, having won just two of his 18 games in this competition.
But now the top 24 of the 36 competing teams will continue through to the knockout rounds, and Celtic have been handed a pretty favourable fixture list. Dortmund, Atalanta, Leipzig and Aston Villa are the heaviest hitters they’ll face while they’ll also face Club Brugge, Young Boys, and Dinamo Zagreb. The latter were beaten 9-2 by Bayern Munich last night. Failure for Celtic to make it to the knockout rounds should be considered a major disappointment.
Though even Zagreb are unlikely to be as bad as Slovan Bratislava: Celtic Park hadn’t seen as limp and frail an opponent since Rangers.
Celtic won 5-1 and truthfully it should have been more. They led 1-0 at the break having tossed away a series of great chances, for which they were determined to atone once they returned. Kyogo turned in from close range within a minute, and Arne Engels converted a penalty soon after.
A comedy swiped clearance by Greg Taylor was then punished by Kevin Wimmer, who bent the ball gorgeously into the top corner from a standing start, Ronaldinho-style. Celtic quickly hit back when Daizen Maedea rolled the ball into the corner from another quick shuffle of possession. Slovan could hardly perceive how quickly Celtic moved the ball in attack, let alone intervene.
But it was Liam Scales who kicked off the goal rush, becoming the first Irish international goalscorer in the Champions League since Darron Gibson netted against Schalke in May 2011. That more than 13 years have passed without an Irish goalscorer in the Champions League is remarkable . . . and yet all too believable.
Seventy minutes after Scales ended the streak, Adam Idah came off the bench to ensure we don’t live through another years-long barren stretch. He tucked the ball clinically into the bottom corner at the end of a move started by a typically incisive Scales pass.
Less fathomable is how Scales is so low on Heimir Hallgrimsson’s pecking order, having not played a minute across the Nations League games against England and Greece. Ireland have relative depth at centre-back, but Scales is deemed fourth-choice at best.
His left foot gives him a passing range his compatriots do not have, and he provided the spark for much of Celtic’s attacking in the first half. Their interplay was slick and whirring, with much of it coming down the left: Scales’ left foot opened up many of the angles.
Celtic, though, were profligate, with Daizen Maeda firing over the crossbar after an enterprising move down the left before he then planted a close-range header at the Slovan goalkeeper after a neat short corner routine. The latter was unique in that it was crafted down the right flank, but otherwise Celtic’s best moments came down Scales’ side: Kyogo spooned the ball over from inside the box after another swift moment of interplay. But it took Scales to open the scoring.
In a neat reworking, it was a case of Engels being the means of production: Arne’s corner was flicked goalwards by an unmarked Scales and the goalkeeper could only steer the ball deeper into the net.
Scales’ performance wasn’t perfect, and if David Strelec had seen his blocked shot loop under the crossbar rather than above it when the game was still goalless, fingers would have been pointed at Scales for being caught upfield and out of position.
Slovan also put Scales under zero pressure as he sprayed the ball about. They sat off in a 4-4-2 mid-block most notable for the number of gaps and holes in it.
Nonetheless, an expectant Celtic Park on a Champions League night is a scale of occasion many of the other Irish players are not used to, and Slovan are not hugely better than many of Ireland’s opponents at international level. The Nations League B has not been around long enough yet to have its own Barclaysmen movement but once it does bloom in a few years, it will include guys like Vladimir Weiss and Tigran Barseghyan, whom Scales pocketed tonight.
He will enjoy this new-look Champions League format – as will everyone else at Celtic.
