Goalless draw seals Celtic progress to play-off round
CELTIC reached the Champions League play-off round after a tense goalless draw in Baku completed a 1-0 aggregate victory over FK Qarabag.
The Hoops withstood waves of pressure from the Azerbaijan champions and rarely threatened to add to Dedryck Boyata’s first-leg goal in the third qualifying round tie.
A superb Craig Gordon save kept out a curling free-kick by Qarabag midfielder Richard Almeida in the first half while the closest the visitors came was a Stefan Johansen shot wide after the break.
But a professional display saw the Scottish Premiership giants through and they are now two matches away from advancing to the group stages for the third time in the last four seasons.
Celtic – one of the five seeded teams in the ‘Champions’ section of Friday’s draw – will now face either Maccabi Tel Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, Malmo, Skenderbeu Korce or Astana in the final qualification phase.
Former Hoops defender Mark Wilson was impressed by Celtic’s fitness in Western Asia against a well-drilled Qarabag while a “proud” boss Ronny Deila believes his side will not face a tougher opponent in the next round than Gurban Gurbanov’s team.
Damage done in Glasgow: Celtic won the first leg at Parkhead late on which ultimately proved decisive in the overall tie (Picture from Sky Sports)
The build-up had been dominated by the state of the pitch at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium with Deila refuting suggestions the barren surface combined with the 40 degree heat would affect Celtic’s chances of progressing.
But it caused no major problems and instead weathering the Qarabag storm in the first half was the main concern of the visitors.
Celtic, who kicked off their league campaign with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Ross County, were on the back foot for much of the contest but the hosts struggled to create clear-cut chances up against a disciplined Hoops rearguard.
Virgil van Dijk cleared from Reynaldo when he chanced his arm from long range and was then able to usher the ball out for a goal-kick when Ilgar Gurbanov tried to pick out Alharbi El Jadeyaoui.
The visitors, unchanged from last week’s first-leg at Celtic Park with Nadir Ciftci again preferred to Leigh Griffiths in attack, eventually settled and Stuart Armstrong almost got clear but his inviting cross was turned away by Rashad Sadygov.
Good form: The Celtic keeper kept a third successive clean sheet and has only conceded once in 360 minutes of European football so far (Picture from BT Sport)
As the tie continued to hang in the balance, the hosts could have levelled the scores when Gordon failed to take command of El Jadeyaoui’s cross and was indebted to Emilio Izaguirre for being alert to clear his lines.
But the Scotland custodian proved his worth with a fine diving stop to thwart Brazilian Almeida from 22 yards midway through the half.
Celtic nervously held out until the interval, only after another van Dijk intervention to block Dani’s shot behind for a corner.
Man of the match: The Dutchman, touted by several English Premier League clubs, was a solid defensive performer for Celtic in Baku (Picture from Sky Sports)
The Hoops, though, were limited to precious few openings in the final third and struggled to mount any meaningful counter attacks.
Nir Bitton, back in the team after being rested at the weekend to recover from an ankle injury, went for an extravagant effort from near the centre circle but keeper Ibrahim Sehic gathered at the second attempt.
Qarabag’s faltering frontline lacked an end product and were unable to seize upon their attacking pressure but denied Celtic sustained spells of possession and the Hoops’ crisp passing rhythm often deserted them even without the effects of the sandy pitch.
Deila introduced Kris Commons and James Forrest from the bench in the final 10 minutes and the latter used his pace to get in behind the Qarabag defence, who managed to recover in the nick of time to clear his indecisive cross.
In the closing stages, Celtic were presented with their best opportunity when Armstrong teed up Johansen but the midfielder fired wide of the target from a promising position.
There were joyous scenes at the full-time whistle, nevertheless, as the Hoops saw out five injury-time minutes to secure the gutsy stalemate in the blistering heat which leaves them with one more obstacle to conquer their European challenge.
TEAMS:
FK Qarabag (4-5-1): 13 Sehic, 18 Gurbanov, 55 Huseynov, 14 Sadygov (c), 25 Agolli, 67 El Jadeyaoui (Mammadov 74'), 20 Richard Almeida, 2 Garayev, 10 Dani Quintana (Tagiyev 84'), 29 Poepon (Ismayilov 64'), 9 Reynaldo.
Subs not used: 1 Valiyev (GK), 6 Mustafayev, 32 Yunuszada, 91 Diniyev.
Booked: None
Goals: None
Celtic (4-2-3-1): 1 Gordon, 23 Lustig, 20 Boyata, 5 van Dijk, 3 Izaguirre, 8 Brown (c), 6 Bitton, 16 Mackay-Steven (Commons 79'), 25 Johansen, 14 Armstrong (Forrest 84'), 7 Ciftci (Griffiths 67').
Subs not used: 26 Bailly (GK), 4 Ambrose, 22 Janko, 18 Rogic.
Booked: Johansen (63'), Izaguirre (88')
Goals: None
Referee: Martin Strombergsson (Sweden) - 8.5/10 Attendance: 27,000
MATCH FACTS:
Possession: Qarabag 51%, Celtic 49% Attempts: Qarabag 9, Celtic 4 Attempts on target: Qarabag 2, Celtic 1 Attempts off target: Qarabag 7, Celtic 3 Corners: Qarabag 7, Celtic 1 Offsides: Qarabag 1, Celtic 4 Fouls: Qarabag 9, Celtic 17
