2018-08-30: Celtic 3-0 FK Suduva, UEFA Cup

Trivia

• UEFA Cup / Europa League 2018-19 play-off round; 2nd leg
• Celtic qualify 4-1 in aggregate win.
• Nervy first 45mins but Celtic were stronger over all with dominant second half.
• Dembele didn't play as expected to be sold next day to Lyon, but Boyata still played!
• Griffiths scores an exceptional free kick; his 100th goal for Celtic. Congratulations and what a way to seal it!
• Ajer scores his first goal.
• Edouard out injured.
• Sevco also thru to group stages, so first time in ten years that two Scottish sides into European competition group stages
• Transfer deadline day next day; expecting a few moves. Most fans frustrated saying this is the worst transfer window ever (etc etc), but there is a lot of frustration.
• Ex Rangers players who were paid through an offshore trust have been told they have ‘weeks’ to approach the taxman, it has been reported. According to BBC Scotland, former players and staff face an even bigger bill if they don’t meet the deadline

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Celtic 3-0 Suduva (agg 4-1): Hoops ease into Europa League group stages
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/celtic-3-0-suduva-agg-4-1-hoops-ease-into-europa-league-group-stages-1-4792627
Celtic booked their place in the Europa League group stage with a stress-free victory over Suduva which allowed them to leave plenty in reserve for Sunday’s Scottish Premiership collision with fellow qualifiers Rangers. Leigh Griffiths’ landmark 100th goal for the Scottish champions sent them on their way, with second half strikes from Callum McGregor and Kristoffer Ajer – the big Norwegian’s first for the club – completing a comfortable aggregate success.
It was a night which saw manager Brendan Rodgers able to leave key players such as James Forrest and Tom Rogic on the bench, doubtless with the weekend domestic assignment in mind.

Griffiths may have had to wait much longer than he would have liked to join the illustrious list of Celtic strikers to have scored 100 goals for the club – his breakthrough strike against the Lithuanian champions was only his fifth of an injury-hampered 2018.

But his timing could hardly have been more favourable from his point of view at a stage of the season when the possible departure of Moussa Dembele before the transfer window closes may offer him the chance to reclaim the status of Celtic’s number one striker.
With Odsonne Edouard not even among the substitutes as his return from injury is delayed until the Old Firm showdown, Griffiths was handed the front line responsibility of ensuring his club would have European group stage football to look forward to for the rest of the year.
There was also what has become a rare starting appearance for Scott Sinclair and the winger, still trying to rediscover the irresistible form which marked his debut season in Glasgow, was first to threaten when he cut in from the left and drove a shot just over from 22 yards in the third minute.
Suduva had to score at least once on the night to have any chance of upsetting the odds but that did not tempt them to adopt an adventurous approach. The visitors sat deep, looking to disrupt and frustrate Celtic while waiting on an opportunity to counter-attack.

Rodgers’ men were restricted to shots from distance in the early stages with Olivier Ntcham the next to try his luck as he worked some space for himself to loft an effort narrowly over.
Griffiths’ first sight of goal came in the 18th minute and he beat the ground in frustration, knowing he should have done better, after directing a close range shot straight at Ivan Kardum after the Suduva ‘keeper’s defence had failed to clear a Sinclair cross.
A mistake from Aleksandar Zivanovic presented Griffiths with his next chance, allowing him to surge into the right side of the penalty area and see another low shot gathered by Kardum.
It was a case of third time lucky for Griffiths when he put Celtic ahead in the 27th minute. Jovan Cadenovic’s foul on McGregor conceded a free-kick in territory similar to that from where Griffiths struck his memorable set piece double for Scotland against England back in the summer of 2017. Ntcham also hovered over the ball but Griffiths stepped forward and whipped a left foot strike over the defensive wall and bending away from Kardum’s stretching left hand into the corner of the net.

The goal sparked Suduva into their first attack of any note and Craig Gordon had to make a smart save to keep out an effort from the visitors’ debutant striker Sandro Gotal. Celtic suddenly had some defending to do and Dedryck Boyata continued to repair his relationship with the home support when he earned loud acclaim for a perfectly timed interception when Gotal threatened again.
The hosts were soon back in the ascendancy and Sinclair wasted a glorious chance in the 33rd minute when he latched onto a Ntcham cross but was unable to find a way past Kardum from just six yards out.
As dominant as Celtic were, there was another reminder just before the interval that there could still be milage left in the tie for Suduva when a mistake from Gordon almost let Gerson Acevedo in before Boyata again stepped in to snuff out the danger.
Celtic upped the tempo at the start of the second half and the greater injection of pace and purpose in their play had the desired effect as they shut the door firmly on any notions of a comeback from the visitors.
McGregor, so often a scorer of valuable goals in Europe, made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute when he collected a pass from Sinclair on the edge of the penalty area and calmly guided a low left foot shot beyond Kardum’s left hand.

Griffiths then missed a simple chance to add to his tally, shanking a shot wide from close range, but Celtic were in cruise control when Kristoffer Ajer grabbed their third in the 61st minute. The big defender’s looping header from a Griffiths cross beat Kardum via the inside of his left hand post.
Teenage winger Mikey Johnston and substitute Ryan Christie both missed glaring chances in the closing stages but Celtic’s job was already done.
Celtic: Gordon, Lustig, Boyata, Ajer, Tierney (Izaguirre 69); Brown, Ntcham; Johnston (Hayes 79), McGregor, Sinclair; Griffiths (Christie 65). Subs not used: Bain, Gamboa, Rogic, Forrest.
Suduva: Kardum, Svrljuga, Gaiduchik, Jankauskas, Zivanovic, Slavickas; Acevedo, Cadjenovic (Leimonas 56), Offenbacher (Verbickas 80); Cicilia, Gotal (Kasparavicius 73). Subs not used: Ridley, Cinikas, Matulevicius, Vezevicius.
Referee: G.Kabakov (Bulgaria)

BBC
Celtic salved some of their European disappointment by easing into the group stage of the Europa League.
The Scottish champions dropped into the continent's second-tier competition after being knocked out of Champions League qualifying by AEK Athens.
But Leigh Griffiths' 100th goal for the club, and strikes by Callum McGregor and Kristoffer Ajer, secured a 4-1 aggregate win over Lithuania's Suduva.
Celtic will join Rangers in Friday's group stage draw (12:00 BST).
This season will be the first time in over a decade that there have been two Scottish clubs in the league section of a European competition – the Old Firm clubs were both in the Champions League in 2007/08.
The Glasgow sides will meet on Sunday in their first derby of the campaign.

• Rangers & Celtic in the Europa League – what you need to know
• Celtic close to Benkovic & Mulumbu deals
• Reaction & the win over Suduva as it happened
• Podcast: Reaction to Celtic's win

Revived Griffiths joins feted list

This always promised to be a comfortable night for Celtic – and so it proved.
The hubbub over striker Moussa Dembele – absent as he ponders life in the wake of Lyon's rejected bid – was put to one side and his team-mates put the Lithuanian champions away without any fuss.
Having fallen down the pecking order, Griffiths hasn't had the easiest time of it of late at Celtic, but his free-kick just before the half hour was the Griffiths of old.
He actually had two decent chances just before, but when he sized-up the dead ball it was Hampden versus England all over again. Up and over and in.
It earned Griffiths a place in the pantheon of Celtic's goalscoring centurions. Some list, that. Jimmy McGrory, Bobby Lennox, Stevie Chalmers, Henrik Larsson and Kenny Dalglish to name just five.
Suduva tried to keep the score down, but couldn't. McGregor, for one, was too much for them. Celtic wasted a few chances, but when Scott Sinclair squared for McGregor early in the second half, the midfielder all but guaranteed Celtic's progress.
Ajer's angled header made it three, a goal that did something to reflect Celtic's total domination.
There could have been more – the impressive replacement Ryan Christie, Mikey Johnston, Sinclair and Ajer all went close – but this was a stroll for Celtic. The Europa League beckons.

Striking comparisons as derby looms – analysis

All thoughts now turn to Sunday and the much-anticipated meeting of Rodgers' Celtic and Steven Gerrard's Rangers.
There were signs here that Celtic are beginning to find their attacking mojo. And they'll need it. Rangers are not the pushovers of last season. They look well-organised and robust in defence where previously they were accident-prone and demoralised even before they got off the bus at Celtic Park.
Rodgers and Gerrard have some decisions to make, principally up front. Can Gerrard trust Alfredo Morelos, big on goal threat but woefully short in the fuse department, in the white heat of Parkhead?
The Celtic manager has a conundrum, too. Will Dembele still be a Celtic player? And if he is still in Glasgow what will his mood be like?
Questions about Dembele and about Odsonne Edouard. Is he fit enough to make it? In most of his marquee wins, Rodgers has one of the two Frenchmen starting. They've delivered them and again.
What now? Griffiths didn't look pin-sharp against Suduva, but he got his goal and regained some confidence. The tale of the Old Firm strikers will be a big theme in the coming days.

UEFA.com

The referee ends the second half.
90'+2
Lustig (Celtic) has an attempt on goal.
90'+2
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
90'+2
Lustig (Celtic) has an attempt on goal.
3
The fourth official has signalled 3 minutes of added time.
90'
Hayes (Celtic) delivers the corner.
90'
Corner awarded to Celtic.
90'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
90'
Ajer (Celtic) has an effort on goal.
30/08/2018 21:45
GettyImages-1025364278
88'
Sinclair (Celtic) misses the target.
86'
Gordon (Celtic) blocks a shot.
86'
Cicilia (Sūduva) has an attempt on goal.
85'
Sinclair (Celtic) is adjudged to be in an offside position.
84'
Christie (Celtic) misses the target.
81'
Sinclair (Celtic) is adjudged to be in an offside position.
81'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
81'
Boyata (Celtic) has an effort on goal.
81'
Christie (Celtic) delivers the corner.
80'
Corner awarded to Celtic.
30/08/2018 21:36
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79'
Verbickas (in) – Offenbacher (out) (Sūduva).
79'
Švrljuga (Sūduva) misses the target.
78'
Hayes (in) – Johnston (out) (Celtic).
77'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
77'
Christie (Celtic) has an attempt on goal.
76'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
76'
Johnston (Celtic) has an effort on goal.
75'
Ntcham (Celtic) misses the target.
73'
Kasparavičius (in) – Gotal (out) (Sūduva).
73'
Ntcham (Celtic) has a shot blocked.
72'
Christie (Celtic) delivers the corner.
71'
Corner awarded to Celtic.
71'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
71'
Ntcham (Celtic) has an effort on goal.
69'
Izaguirre (in) – Tierney (out) (Celtic).
65'
Christie (in) – Griffiths (out) (Celtic).
65'
Švrljuga (Sūduva) is adjudged to be in an offside position.
61'
Assist by Griffiths (Celtic)
61'
Ajer (Celtic) scores!
60'
Griffiths (Celtic) delivers the corner.
60'
Corner awarded to Celtic.
59'
Cicilia (Sūduva) is flagged for offside.
59'
Gotal (Sūduva) misses the target.
58'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
58'
Tierney (Celtic) has an attempt on goal.
56'
Slavickas (Sūduva) takes the free-kick.
56'
Leimonas (in) – Čadjenović (out) (Sūduva).
55'
Boyata (Celtic) concedes a free-kick for a foul on Gotal (Sūduva).
55'
Griffiths (Celtic) misses the target.
53'
Assist by Sinclair (Celtic)
53'
McGregor (Celtic) scores!
30/08/2018 21:07
GettyImages-1025341014
50'
Sinclair (Celtic) misses the target.
49'
Sinclair (Celtic) is flagged for offside.
48'
Ntcham (Celtic) misses the target.
47'
Griffiths (Celtic) delivers the corner.
47'
Corner awarded to Celtic.
The second half begins.
30/08/2018 21:00
GettyImages-1025351496
The referee blows for half-time.
45'
Brown (Celtic) is penalised for a foul on Čadjenović (Sūduva).
45'
Tierney (Celtic) has a shot blocked.
43'
McGregor (Celtic) misses the target.
33'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
33'
Sinclair (Celtic) has an effort on goal.
30'
Gordon (Celtic) blocks a shot.
30'
Gotal (Sūduva) has an effort on goal.
27'
GettyImages-1025351642
Griffiths (Celtic) scores!
27'
Griffiths (Celtic) takes the free-kick.
27'
Čadjenović (Sūduva) concedes a free-kick for a foul on McGregor (Celtic).
23'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
23'
Griffiths (Celtic) has an attempt on goal.
22'
Tierney (Celtic) has a shot blocked.
21'
Griffiths (Celtic) takes the corner.
21'
Corner awarded to Celtic.
18'
Kardum (Sūduva) blocks a shot.
18'
Griffiths (Celtic) has an attempt on goal.
17'
Ntcham (Celtic) misses the target.
10'
Griffiths (Celtic) takes the free-kick.
9'
Gaiduchik (Sūduva) concedes a free-kick for a foul on Tierney (Celtic).
8'
Lustig (Celtic) has a shot blocked.
4'
Sinclair (Celtic) misses the target.
The match is under way.