Celtic seal play-off spot after late own goal spares blushes against Young Boys | Champions League

Brendan Rodgers returns to Celtic with the express aim of making the play-off round in this season’s Champions League. Rodgers could tick it off, when the Young Boys were finally spotted on the energy-sapping Celtic Park side. The winner, an own goal by the visiting captain, Loris Benito, came just as Celtic were threatening to run out of ideas. They will now travel to Villa Park and end this phase with more matches guaranteed. Rodgers’ belief in what he can deliver here is confirmed. Celtic deserve more chances against Europe’s elite.

The young lads arrived in Glasgow in such disappointing European form that Celtic’s only apparent danger was complacency. The Swiss team slipped to six defeats out of six. Things haven’t been much better on the domestic front. The Young Boys are ninth in their domestic league. Those who insist Celtic therefore enjoyed a favorable draw in this fresh format – Slovan Bratislava were the first to arrive here – ignore the points claimed by Atalanta and RB Leipzig. The Scottish champions were outclassed 7-1 in Dortmund, a match that was their clear result. The challenge in this final game of the league stage was clearly to enjoy a favorite position.

Kyogo Furuhashi had the ball in the Young Boys’ net inside 10 minutes, only to be flagged for offside. Nicolas Cohen legitimately breached the Young Boys backline but panicked when there was a clear option to shoot. The visitors opened the game with remarkable physicality but displayed a defensive fragility that Celtic looked well equipped to exploit.

The Young Boys briefly presented their threat notice. Arne Engels conceded possession cheaply, with Joel Montero moving forward before curling a shot past Kasper Schmeichel. The Celtic goalkeeper, who has signed a new contract until the end of next season, batted the ball away as Montero’s teammates bemoaned the lack of a pass.

Celtic then thought they had scored after half an hour. This time VAR intervened. Callum McGregor – outstanding in the first half – is understood to have tripped Sheikh Niasse before feeding Farohashi. The only surprise was that the referee didn’t see it in the first place. Furuhashi made a bit of history just before the break thanks to a disallowed hat-trick. Two of the three were chalked up within 120 seconds of each other. The Japanese were offside when meeting Daizen Maeda’s cross from the left.

The young boys were desperately trying to move towards the break. They shouldn’t have managed it after Darren Miles brought down Greg Taylor, instead the Angles put a woeful penalty into the arms of a jubilant Marvin Keller. Three non-goals and a minor penalty. Was it one of those nights for Celtic? The scoreless scenario at half-time was surprisingly damaging.

Austin Trusty hit the Young Boys crossbar with a header from an Angles corner as Celtic started the second period in style. Maida had already tested Keller. A home breakthrough looked imminent until a rare young lads counter-attack, but Schmeichel produced an acrobatic double save to deny the men.

Rodgers showed his first disappointment of the night when Taylor lost the ball in a promising position. The left back was replaced by Alex Vale. Taylor and Vale’s situation is interesting given Celtic’s moves to bring Kieran Tierney back from Arsenal.

Rodgers’ next switch saw Adam Aida replace Furoshi. It coincided with the hosts’ worst spell of the game. The young lads, sensing Celtic frustration and fatigue, began to enjoy themselves. Elsewhere in the scorelines, the home support looked uneasy at the table. Their moment had come.

Reo Hatate set Idah loose. The striker’s shot rebounded off Keller, then into the helpless Benito and into the net. It was a winner befitting the most awkward moment of the evening. Celtic have no reason to care. Mission accomplished. Even Maida’s dismissal for an off-the-ball clash with Muhammad Ali Kamara could not stop the wild celebrations.