AROUND 90 minutes before kick-off at Parkhead the Cliftonville players were out on the pitch, smartphones in the air, taking umpteen pictures of each other and the vast stands.
Their backroom staff did the same. This would be one to tell the grandchildren about. Tommy Breslin, the club's manager, talked about many of his part-time players being Celtic supporters and realising a "lifetime ambition" simply by playing at the ground. What did he intend to take from the night? "Avoiding total capitulation." Cliftonville gave the impression they would have liked nothing better than to have time to book themselves on the Stadium Tour.
Celtic intend a tour of their own and after this routine 5-0 aggregate win they have progressed to the Champions League's third qualifying round and a confrontation with Elfsborg. The Swedish champions are fresh from 11 goals of their own against Daugava of Latvia, four of them in last night's away second leg.
The proximity of the Elfsborg tie meant this could never be the equivalent of an early-season breather for Celtic. Next Wednesday will bring an authentic European night against the Swedes with all of its suspense and fear. An opponent which scores as frequently Elfsborg did over their two games has a sobering effect.
Uefa figures show that Celtic made a staggering £20.2m from their run to the Champions League round of 16 last season, but their place in the play-off round this time, let alone the group stage, will have to be earned. They had nearly 30 shots on goal last night but their finishing was poor and their passing lacked sharpness. They will have to be far crisper against the Swedes.
There are European nights which generate thunder within Parkhead but this would never be one of those. It was far too ambient for that, albeit constantly noisy due to the sizeable, good-natured crowd. Cliftonville's humility extended to their large and boisterous support which sang about winning 4-0. Later Thorsten Kinhofer, the German referee, took the unusual step of relaying a message via the stadium announcer in the second half asking that no more firecrackers be discharged after a couple of explosive bangs disrupted him and the players.
Celtic currently have twin identities. The same, strong team which delivered the decisive first leg result was chosen again for the formality of qualification (the side which played in the weekend friendly at Brentford consisted almost entirely of reserves). Scott Brown and Biram Kayal patrolled in front of the back four with James Forrest, Kris Commons and Georgios Samaras roving behind Anthony Stokes. Gary Hooper had to content himself with a place on the bench.
What Hooper and everyone else watched was a modest opponent coming to Parkhead and adopting a stuffy, defensive formation in the hope of frustrating Celtic and emerging with a respectable result. In truth it was little different from the sort of examinations Celtic are set on a regular basis in the league and it did bog them down, albeit their chances were plentiful.
Elfsborg's players are superior to Cliftonville's yet their approach will be more open, sparing Celtic the suffocating lack of space which was always a factor last night. There was a bank of five red shirts across midfield before Celtic got at Cliftonvilles' back four and, as is always the case regardless of an opponents' technical shortcomings, there was plenty of frustration as a consequence of the Belfast side's tenacious defiance.
Cliftonville could measure their success by the fact there were 55 goalless minutes between Celtic's first and second strikes. The first, after only 16 minutes, came when Mikael Lustig gave the ball to Stokes and he planted a cross on Efe Ambrose's head. Ambrose's heading isn't reliable – he fluffed a fine chance later in the game – but this time he placed the ball comfortably past Conor Devlin. The goalkeeper was clawing at thin air again when another header beat him 20 minutes from time. Commons played a short corner to Emilio Izaguirre and when it was returned to him he delivered a cross which Samaras met with another crisp headed finish.
Cliftonville could not handle Samaras in the air – Devlin denied him a goal in the opening minutes – nor Forrest on the ground. The latter started on the left, switched to the right, and cut inside to unleash a ferocious shot just over the bar. Commons tried a couple from outside the box too, both just over the top. Stokes had one shot parried away by Devlin then finished poorly, jabbing his shot wide after Brown had put him through on goal. Too many misses. Stokes still looked rusty and after 65 minutes he was replaced by Hooper, whose cameo included a fine overhead kick which thudded the ball off the foot of Cliftonville's post. Amido Balde was also given the last 13 minutes for his home debut.
Between the Celtic goals, Cliftonville almost managed the equaliser they would talk about forever more. Stephen Garrett burrowed down their left wing and squeezed the ball across goal where Liam Boyce raced in to connect. A goal looked certain, then somehow Kelvin Wilson got a touch to hack it away for a corner and Boyce's moment disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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