BEAMING Brendan Rodgers delivered just one word to describe Celtic’s breathtaking 5-1 triumph over Slovan Bratislava at a rocking Parkhead: “Wow!”
The Hoops gaffer led the team to their first-ever matchday one victory in the Champions League as they shredded the Slovaks with four goals in a devastating second-half performance.
Liam Scales got the show on the road with a mighty header from a left-wing corner-kick delivery from Arne Engels in the 17th minute.
Kyogo Furuhashi, who had been threatening all night, knocked in the second shortly after the turnaround and Engels rolled in his second successive penalty-kick to hoist the scoreline to 3-0.
There was a momentary lapse in defence when Greg Taylor sliced a clearance back into the danger zone and Kevin Wimmer capitalised to curl an effort past the stranded Kasper Schmeichel.
However, there was a quick reply from Daizen Maeda as he restored the three-goal advantage and Adam Idah profited from an astute pass from fellow-substitute James Forrest to strike the fifth to bring down the curtain on a sublime display by the hosts.
A delighted Rodgers said: “To get that scoreline at this level is a massive testament to the players and their mentality.
“I thought in the first-half we created some good chances and obviously got in front, but we weren’t as quick with the ball and our positioning – the structure was out of sync a little bit.
“But we were still good value and had some other good chances, but in the second-half. Wow!
“Just the intensity and the hunger and the greed of the team, and then the quality for the goals was absolutely superb, so it was a great night for everyone.
“If you look at the statistics in the game, that backs up the scoreline, as well, and I thought in every aspect of the game we were excellent.
“You have to respect that no matter how dominant we were, with about 60% possession, that it’s Champions League level, so you have to expect you’re going to have to work, you’re going to have to shift, to slide, and you’re going to have to be brave, and the players did that magnificently.”
“The supporters really pushed the team and I’m so proud for everyone.
“We won our last game in the Champions League here [2-1 against Feyenoord] and now we’ve won the first one, so it’s back-to-back, which is nice.
“It’s just step by step, building that confidence and building that mentality at this level and games like this we want to show that we’re a really difficult team to play against and we’ve done that.
”The intensity which we played at, with and without, the ball was so good.
”You could see in the second-half right from the off, the players were absolutely sensational in the game.
“We could have had more than five. So, it was a real, really good performance.
“There was a big expectation going into the game, but it was important not to complicate things, just play our football and see if we could put them under stress and see if they could live with it.”
The Irishman added: “We have worked hard from the start of pre-season to get to this point.
“I said: ‘Don’t overthink it’. That’s the key. The razzmatazz around the Champions League is amazing, but we are playing against a team who defend 4-4-2, which we play against in the league. “There are different tiers, but it’s still the same idea.
“You can see the confidence we have from pre-season. That’s the level and we want to keep showing that.
“It’s giving the players the belief to play our game because those goals, you will have seen them a number of times.
“We know where we want to get to as a club and that was a nice step.”
Next up is the journey to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund on October 1 and the Bundesliga outfit emphasised their credentials with a solid 3-0 win over Club Brugge in Belgium last night.
