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).
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