Celtic’s aspirations of making the Champions League group stages got a huge boost on Wednesday night at Celtic Park as they utterly decimated FC Astana 5-0. Here are three thoughts from the match:
Passing game pays off
It may have taken the Hoops a little bit of time to break down Astana, but once they did it absolutely rained down goals upon the hapless Kazakhs. The first goal would come after 31 minutes, and Celtic’s patience was rewarded time and time again as they continued to fire in goals, sometimes aided by the help of their opponents.
This kind of play has consistently put away teams in Scotland over the past year, so it really should be no surprise to see Astana undone by the same thing. Now Celtic will have to make a step up, or will have to develop a new plan, as match up with much stronger and bigger sides.
Celtic ruthless in the finish
Celtic did not have a single shot saved in this match, showing that they were well and truly the best side in the match. They had nine shots at goal in total, with three finding the net on their own. Two others were aided by own goals.
Still yet, this is encouraging for the Bhoys considering they will almost surely to be meeting Barcelona yet again, as they always seemingly do in the group stages. If they want to compete, they will have to put their chances on target and find the back of the net more than they miss. This will help build confidence to do just that.
Sinclair typically brilliant
Scott Sinclair was once again at his best on Wednesday night, showing the brilliance of Brendan Rodgers and the club to bring the Englishman in.
Sinclair scored twice, both times getting on the end of a great pass to slot home into the far left corner. His movement, though, is the biggest and most important thing to see from him.
That movement, combined with the likes of Dembele with he returns or Griffiths, has the potential to see them make waves in the group stage. They’ll be there soon, and we’ll see then just how much he and his team have truly grown together in a year’s time.
