Leigh Griffiths versus Yuri Logvinenko
Celtic always look a more dangerous proposition with Griffiths (or Moussa Dembele) in the team and so it was again here. The striker probably should have put his side in front after just eight minutes only to head James Forrest’ enticing cross wide, and then was stopped by the offside trap as he hared in on goal.
Astana continued to take a risk by playing a high line but, to their credit, got it right more often than not. Twice more Griffiths was flagged offside, once from an opportunistic Kieran Tierney header and then from a Scott Sinclair pass that was delayed a second longer than was necessary.
Griffiths, though, is more than just a finisher and showcased a touch of finesse to slide a pass through to Sinclair for Celtic’s third goal that surely sealed the tie and then did the same for Forrest later on. As the heavens opened, Griffiths finally found himself running in on goal only to wildly slash his shot wide of target but he would not be denied his share of the glory as he rattled in number five. An impressive all-round performance.
James Forrest versus Dmitri Shomko
The winger struggled in the home leg of the previous round against Rosenborg to get the beating of his marker but within three minutes here he had drawn Shomko into a rash tackle to earn Celtic their first dead-ball opportunity of the night.
A few minutes later and Forrest was involved again, sending in a pinpoint cross only for Griffiths to head the chance wide. Astana quickly fastened on to the danger and started doubling up on the wide man.
Forrest, though, was undeterred and was often to be found in the second half playing centrally alongside Griffiths or, on at least one occasion, drifting over to the left to try to shape the game. His influence seemed to be waning as the game wore on but he was still in the right place at the right time to thrash a fourth goal past the Astana goalkeeper.
Jozo Simunovic versus Junior Kabananga
With Kieran Tierney maintaining a high line throughout, Celtic effectively played a three-man defence with the soon-to-be-Bosnian defender charged with closely monitoring the movements of Astana’s main goal threat, restricting the Congolese early on to a long-range hopeful potshot that went tamely wide.
Astana were evidently not intent in just sitting in as Rosenborg had done in the previous round and their three-man attack, with Kabananga through the middle, always looked lively and keen to create when they could. From one early trading of passes early in the second half, only an inch-perfect sliding challenge from Simunovic denied the striker an unfettered route to goal.
The defender has never been one to wait for play to come to him, often stepping out to clear the danger rather than waiting to contest a 50:50 with his opponent. It wasn’t always pretty but it was certainly effective as Celtic claimed the clean sheet that has all but taken them to the group stage of the Champions League.
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