| Match Pictures | Matches: 2019 – 2020 | 2019-20 Pictures |
Trivia
- European Cup/Champions League, 1st Qualifying Round Leg 1
- First competitive game of the new season, and no rawness or poor first results.
- Pouring with rain, and the pitch cut up big time. Pitch was dreadful. Celtic didn't pack football boots and are playing in trainers. Or maybe pitch is made of soap.
- Debut game for Boli Boli.
- Celtic comfortably through, although did score first.
- Mikey Johnstone steals the headlines with an incredible equaliser goal.
- Bitton surprisingly started in defence, does this mean bad news for Ralston?
- President of Albania Ilir Mata shows off his support for Celtic, all due to friendship with ex-Celt Rudi Vata. The President was liaising & taking pics with Celtic fans!
- Celtic youth player Liam Morrison is on the brink of leaving Celtic having taken up Bayern Munich’s offer of a 3-year contract. The 16 year old central defender was involved in the first team’s tour of Austria and Switzerland. Not yet played in major match with Celtic.
- Rumours: Martin O'Neill to return to Celtic as possible director of football.
- Ntcham has interview with French magazine, basically slates standard in Scottish football (not Celtic) and is a dig to transfer away, although he never was critical of Celtic.
- Women's World Cup finished, USA won. Competition was a success and had good TV ratings. Scotland qualified but didn't win a game.
- Lisbon Lion Jim Craig announced as a new Club Ambassador
- Former Celt Peter Grant is made manager at Alloa Athletic. Good luck to him.
- Cricket World Cup on this week: NZ shocked India in World Cup semifinal to make it to Sunday's final, England v Australia the next day.
Transfers:
- Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo signs for Celtic
- So far 12 players moved out: Perms: Mikael Lustig Dedryck Boyata Emilio Izaguirre Cristian Gamboa Scott Allan Youssouf Mulumbu Dorus de Vries Marvin Compper; LOANS Filip Benković Jeremy Toljan Oliver Burke Timo Weah
- Celtic have been linked with a move for Hapoel Be'er Sheva defender Hatem Abd Elhamed, who can operate at centre-half or right-back.
- Ex-Celt Eoghan O'Connell has signed for Rochdale having done well at Cork.
Review
"After Sarajevo I believe in “once you’re a Celt you’re always a Celt."
Albania’s President Ilir Meta who was present at FK Sarajevo v Celtic match thru friendship with ex-Celt Rudi Vata, and mingled with Celtic fans (2019)
(JBC of TheCelticWiki)
Easy enough at the end, although Celtic won comfortably enough with good goals by Johnstone (great long range), Edouard (dribbled through their defence) and Sinclair (lovely cheeky back heel).
Celtic should have won by more, but we'll take it and home leg should be comfortable enough.
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Teams
FK Sarajevo
- 13Kovacevic
- 2HodzicBooked at 59mins Substituted forDokanovicat 87'minutes
- 9AhmetovicBooked at 65mins
- 7Hebibovic
- 4Sabanovic Substituted forTatarat 66'minutes
- 45Oremus
- 6LazicBooked at 9mins
- 11VelkoskiBooked at 32mins
- 10Rahmanovic Substituted forSisicat 78'minutes
- 21Milanovic
- 25Serbecic
Substitutes
- 17Sisic
- 23Mustafic
- 24Dokanovic
- 26Guzina
- 27Kurdic
- 32Tatar
- 35Dizdarevic
Celtic
- 29Bain
- 6Bitton
- 5Simunovic
- 17Christie
- 19Johnston Substituted for Morgan at 65'minutes
- 8Brown
- 22Edouard
- 49Forrest Substituted for Sinclairat 78'minutes
- 23Bolingoli-Mbombo Substituted for Hayes at 57'minutes
- 35AjerBooked at 82mins
- 42McGregor
Substitutes
- 1Gordon
- 2Jullien
- 9Griffiths
- 11Sinclair
- 15Hayes
- 16Morgan
- 56Ralston
Referee: Glenn Nyberg
Attendance: 24,723
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Articles
FK Sarajevo 1-3 Celtic: Hoops survive early scare to seal convincing win in Bosnia
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/fk-sarajevo-1-3-celtic-hoops-survive-early-scare-to-seal-convincing-win-in-bosnia-1-4962252Ronnie Esplin
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Published: 21:15 Tuesday 09 July 2019
Celtic came from behind to convincingly beat Sarajevo 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League first qualifying round clash at the Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium.
The Scottish champions were stunned in Bosnia and Herzegovina when Mirko Oremus opened the scoring for the home side in the 29th minute following a corner.
However, Neil Lennon's side were soon back level as 20-year-old Mikey Johnston thundered in a leveller from 25 yards six minutes later.
French striker Odsonne Edouard started his season with a classy finish in 51st minute before substitute Scott Sinclair, on for James Forrest, added a third with a cheeky finish.
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It was the first qualifying game of a potential four rounds to make the group stages and the Glasgow club clearly have the upper hand.
The return game is at Parkhead next Wednesday, with the victors taking on the winners of the tie between Estonian side Nomme Kalju and Shkendija of North Macedonia.
On a sodden night in Sarajevo, Belgian left-back Boli Bolingoli, signed from Rapid Vienna for a reported fee of £3 million, made his debut and there was a place for midfielder Ryan Christie, back from his face injury which kept him out since April.
Striker Edouard led the line while fellow Frenchman Christopher Jullien, signed from Toulouse for a reported fee of £7 million, started on the bench.
It was a struggle for both sets of players to adapt to the slippery conditions but it was the home side who had the first chance after seven minutes when attacker Anel Hebibovic outstripped the Hoops defence only for keeper Scott Bain to block with Celtic eventually clearing their lines.
The rain continued to cascade and Celtic were undone when another Slobodan Milanovic corner broke loose in the box and Oremus reacted quickly to slide it in from a few yards out.
However, Celtic showed their mettle. Christie had a decent free-kick saved by Vladan Kovacevic but the Sarajevo keeper had no chance when Johnston got the ball out from under his feet and hammered a drive high into the net.
The Parkhead side could have taken the lead before the break when Edouard played in Forrest but his effort with the outside of his foot flew over the bar.
Six minutes into the second half, it looked even better for Celtic when Edouard took a pass from Forrest and calmly moved into the box before lifting the ball over Kovacevic, leaving two defenders trailing.
BBC
By Martin Dowden
BBC Scotland in Sarajevo
From the section Champions League
Sarajevo v Celtic
Mikey Johnston's stunning strike settled Celtic in Bosnia
Celtic took a significant step towards the second round of Champions League qualifying after an impressive 3-1 win over FK Sarajevo in Bosnia.
Despite conceding just before the half hour, Celtic wrestled control through a fine strike from Mikey Johnston and a composed finish from Odsonne Edouard.
Scott Sinclair backheeled in a third to give Neil Lennon's side a cushion before next Wednesday's second leg and, should they emerge from that, Celtic seem set to face Macedonian champions Shkendija.
They beat Estonian counterparts Nomme Kalju 1-0 in the away leg of their tie, with the winners of that contest now looking likely to travel to Glasgow on 23-24 July.
Lennon praises 'brilliant' Sarajevo win
Reaction & as it happened
Can you name Lennon's 17 European opponents?
Reaction speaks volumes for Lennon's side
Navigating these Champions League qualifying fixtures is always a fraught journey and, given the potential first-round ties on offer, this was one Celtic might have wanted to avoid. That idea was firmly reinforced in the early stages in sodden Sarajevo in front of an intimidating, noisy, home crowd.
The Bosnian champions looked to counter at pace and, after one let off, memories of past away Champions League calamities began to resurface for Celtic.
An unforced error from Jozo Simunovic conceded a cheap corner. It came in from the left and fell just six yards out for Mirko Oremus to slam home to the delight of the raucous crowd. Concessions from set pieces of that kind tend not to result in wins in Europe.
All of a sudden Celtic had answers to find and a heap of Champions League pressure to contend with. The reaction they found speaks volumes given the circumstances. Lennon's men remained calm and firmly asserted their superiority to all but end the tie.
The diminutive figure of Johnston delivered the perfect, timely antidote in spectacular style. He gathered way out in a central area, turned and smashed a magnificent right-footed effort past Vladan Kovacevic. It was the away goal they needed, at a vital moment and it entirely changed this tie.
For all the talk of recruitment over the summer, it is Johnston who has surely done his cause the world of good heading into this new season. On this evidence he could prove a significant figure, assuming the knock that forced him off is not too serious. Similarly, Celtic will be hopeful that the injury that ended new signing Boli Bolingoli's game early will also be minor.
Another plus for Celtic was Odsonne Edouard getting the second goal. His finish was cultured as, rather than snatching at the chance, he waited for the goalkeeper to commit before drinking it past him. The young Frenchman's confidence will grow and, with confidence, he is the potent threat Celtic will rely on.
Three away goals leave Celtic in complete command after what might have been a painful evening. The reaction to adversity might stand them in good stead going forward.
Mikey Johnston graphic
'Celtic bossed the game' – analysis
Former Scotland assistant manager Peter Houston on Sportsound
This was supposed to be a really tough tie but, apart from the first 15 minutes, I thought Celtic bossed the game. They had players that were willing to take the ball and pass it.
Scott Brown was outstanding in the middle of the park, it was a fantastic strike from Mikey Johnston, and the second half was a composed, disciplined performance. To win 3-1 away from home will make Neil Lennon a happy man.