Virgil van Dijk ensured Scottish Premiership champions Celtic’s safe passage into the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round when he scored twice in his side’s 4-0 demolition of Iceland’s KR Reykjavik on Tuesday.
With Celtic leading 1-0 from the first leg in the Icelandic capital, Van Dijk calmed any lingering nerves with two goals in the space of seven first-half minutes at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, the home of Scottish rugby.
The Hoops were forced to relocate, as their Parkhead stadium is out of commission due to its use in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, but the change of venue had little bearing on the outcome as Teemu Pukki also netted a brace to send Celtic cruising into round three 5-0 on aggregate.
The Hoops next face the winners of yesterday’s clash between Polish side Legia Warsaw or Irish outfit St Patrick’s Athletic, who drew the first leg 1-1 in Poland, as they try to make it to the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition.
Celtic boss Ronny Deila, who took over from Neil Lennon last month, handed Pukki a start in place of the injured Anthony Stokes in the lone change from last week’s tie as last season’s leading scorer Kris Commons recovered from a injury in time to play on Tuesday.
Celtic were always expected to have far too much firepower for an opponent with little continental pedigree and the 1967 European champions were ahead on 13 minutes as centerhalf Van Dijk bundled in from close range after goalkeeper Stefan Magnusson flapped at Charlie Mulgrew’s header.
Another set-piece seven minutes later resulted in Van Dijk’s second of the evening as rightback Mikael Lustig headed a Commons corner back across goal, with Magnusson once again left grasping air as Van Dijk nodded Celtic further ahead.
Callum McGregor, scorer of the winner against the Icelandic champions a week ago on his Celtic debut, set up the home side’s third on 27 minutes as he slid the ball across for Pukki to slide home.
Celtic continued their dominance after halftime, with Pukki completing his double after rounding Magnusson and firing into an empty net on 71 minutes, but the Finland international was denied the chance for a hat-trick as he was then replaced by Liam Henderson.
Also making the third round were Macedonia’s Sheriff, who blanked Montenegrin side FK Sutjeska 3-0 to qualify 5-0 on aggregate; Maccabi Tel-Aviv, who routed Santa Coloma of Andorra 2-0 to qualify 3-0 on aggregate; and Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, who swept Lithuania’s Zalgiris Vilnius by the same scoreline to qualify 4-0 on aggregate.
Other teams that made the third round were Sparta Prague (8-1 on aggregate), Bulgaria’s Ludogorets (5-1), Azerbaijan’s Qarabag FK (5-0), Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia (3-0) Belarussian side BATE Borisov (away goals), Serbian club Partizan Belgrade (6-1) and Debrecen VSC of Hungary (2-0).
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS