Celtic produced an emphatic performance in the Champions League on Wednesday night, winning 5-1 against Slovan Bratislava at Parkhead.
Brendan Rodgers said prior to the match that the Bhoys are more equipped this time to play in Europe than in previous seasons, thanks to their summer recruitments.
Celtic players looked faster and fitter and arguably played their best football of the season as the Hoops made a dream start to their new campaign.
James McFadden rightly noted that the Hoops were miles ahead of Slovan Bratislava. Goals from Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda, and Adam Idah earned a memorable victory for Celtic.
Engels, the big-money summer signing, impressed heavily once again as he produced a superb all-round performance, gaining an 8/10 rating from the Scottish Daily Mail page 75).
The newspaper was heavily impressed with the 21-year-old, and they praised his composed performance on the night.
They wrote (page 73): “He pulled one ball out of the air with a velvet touch.”
Celtic were magnificent on the night
After years of disappointments in the Champions League, the new format could come as a blessing for the Hoops. The last time Celtic had five different goalscorers in Europe was way back in 1951 against TPS Turku.
The Hoops are flying in the Scottish Premiership, and they have carried the confidence into Europe. The players looked hungry and sharper and Rodgers couldn’t have asked for a better performance in the expanded 36-team tournament.
It was a slick performance from Celtic and the Slovak Champions had no answer how to stop them.
Celtic will face Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta away from Celtic Park, while a home game against RB Leipzig is still to come. The tests will get tougher from here, but Rodgers will probably take it one game at a time.
If Celtic can produce performances like this in their upcoming games, they can dream of reaching the play-off round in this revamped format.
