Former European champions Celtic will take three away goals into the return leg of their UEFA Champions League second-round qualifier against Irish League champions Cliftonville after a comfortable 3-0 win on Wednesday.
Mikael Lustig and Georgios Samaras were on target in the first half for the Scottish champions, while a late goal from James Forrest added the finishing touches to a dominant performance.
Norway’s Molde, Polish side Legia Warsaw and Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv also recorded away wins in their first-leg ties, while Sweden’s Elfsborg Boras ran in seven goals to effectively book their place in the next round.
Photo: EPA
Celtic, who had lost four games and conceded 12 goals in an unsuccessful pre-season tour of Germany, took their part-time opponents seriously by naming a strong side.
Lustig headed them ahead after 25 minutes and Samaras doubled the advantage with a quick turn and powerful shot six minutes later.
Forrest rounded off the scoring with a right-footed effort that beat Cliftonville goalkeeper Conor Devlin at his near post after 84 minutes.
Norwegian champions Molde won 1-0 away at Sligo Rovers thanks to a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area by Daniel Chima, while Elfsborg scored six second-half goals to complete a 7-1 win over Daugava Daugavpils from Latvia.
Barak Itzhaki and Gal Alberman were on target as Maccabi Tel Aviv won 2-0 against Hungarian side Gyori ETO, while Michal Kucharczyk, Marek Saganowski and Jakub Kosecki were the scorers for Legia Warsaw who won 3-1 over Welsh side The New Saints.
Elsewhere, Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade drew 1-1 with Armenian side Shirak Gyumri and Slovakia’s Slovan Bratislava beat Bulgarian team Ludogorets 2-1.
Azerbaijan’s Neftchi Baku drew 0-0 with Albania’s Skenderbeu and HJK Helsinki’s clash with Kalju Nomme was also goalless.
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