This proved a modern day Celtic Park rarity. The Scottish champions were dominant against continental opposition, to the point where they looked perfectly at home. New format, new Celtic, new danger.
The paucity of Slovan Bratislava will most likely be borne out by subsequent Champions League outings but Brendan Rodgers and Celtic were fully entitled to relish what played out here after year upon year of European turmoil. Rodgers and his players will travel to face Borussia Dortmund believing this environment need not be such a chastising one after all. In their 13th attempt, Celtic finally opened the Champions League proper with victory. This quickly descended into a rout, one absorbing so many games of frustration for Celtic at elite level. In case anybody had neglected to notice, the star of Celtic’s manager is on the rise again.
The confidence exuded by Rodgers before this fixture owed everything to an imperious opening to the domestic season. Celtic, though, had been in this movie before; untouchable in Scotland while unable to keep pace with even mediocre teams in Europe. A key theme of this, a second Rodgers tenure in Glasgow has been re-establishing Celtic as a credible European force. Their opposition here always looked favourable, which in fairness to Celtic has not always been the case over the past decade. Celtic were the heavy favourites to open the Champions League with a win, which marked unfamiliar territory.
Celtic’s support have clearly bought into the Rodgers vision. The crackling atmosphere here was one of expectation rather than hope. As Daizen Maeda blasted wildly over the Slovan bar inside four minutes, Celtic knew they had capacity to breach the visiting defence. Maeda soon played a free header straight into the hands of Dominik Takac. The Slovakians fired back, David Strelec watching his shot deflected over when the forward really should have squared to the marauding Vladimir Weiss. The wonderfully frantic opening to proceedings suggested both teams sensed opportunity.
Celtic have invested relatively strongly to aid their Champions League dream. It felt poetic, then, that a 2021 purchase from the League of Ireland and Shamrock Rovers broke the deadlock. There was assistance from a blue chip buy – the delivery of Arne Engels, Celtic’s £11m record signing was sublime – but Liam Scales still displayed tenacity and perfect timing to meet the cross. Scales’s ferocious header flew in via Takac’s shoulder. The goalkeeper soon had to move smartly to deny Kyogo Furuhashi at close range.
Slovan were not without a counter-attacking threat. Weiss, an ex-Rangers player, allowed the Celtic defence to recover after Cameron Carter-Vickers had miscued a header. Furuhashi was equally wasteful in the 34th minute, snatching at a shot that, as a minimum, should have tested Takac. Rodgers would have been irked his team headed to the break with a one-goal advantage that underplayed their superiority.
The interval improved Celtic’s potency. Nicolas Kühn looked in danger of running down a blind alley before deceiving the Slovan defence with a sharp, low cross from the right that found Furuhashi lurking at the back post. This time the Japanese could not miss, bundling the ball into the visiting net with his thigh. Barring something extraordinary, this would seal the points for Celtic. Slovan looked far more in danger of losing their discipline than bombarding Kasper Schmeichel’s goal.
Indeed, a moment of rashness triggered a Celtic third. Danylo Ihnatenko challenged Alistair Johnston inside the penalty area when there was no need whatsoever to do so. Engels stroked home the resultant spot-kick. Celtic Park could barely believe what it was watching.
Slovan tempered the mood if only slightly and as it was to transpire, briefly. Celtic should really have cleared rather than offer Kevin Wimmer a chance to shoot. Shoot he did; wonderfully with the outside of his boot from an angle to leave Schmeichel stranded. The Danish goalkeeper rightly berated his defenders for their generosity.
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Maeda was to settle any nerves. Furuhashi passed to Reo Hatate, who flicked through for his rampaging teammate. Maeda’s composure allowed him to finish low beyond the exposed Takac. It was once again a question of how many Celtic wanted to score.
Two substitutes combined for the fifth. James Forrest fed Adam Idah, who found himself clean through and made no mistake. There ended not quite the perfect night for Celtic; but not far off it.
