EUROPA LEAGUE
Group G. MATCH DAY 6

Thursday 9th December 2021. K.O. 8PM

Celtic Park. Glasgow



CELTIC 3-2 REAL BETIS

Scorers: Celtic. Welsh (3) Henderson (72) Turnbull (78P)
Real Betis. Bain (69 OG) Iglesias (74)


It was labeled a dead rubber with nothing at stake for both teams as they had settled on their finishing places in the group. However, the players didn’t read the script. Celtic were completely revamped to rest most of the regulars to make way for squad fringe players, they had a point to prove.

Nir Bitton was acting Captain for the game as Ange saw fit to give a raft of youth players their golden chance to make a mark. Debuts were handed to Liam Shaw, Urhoghide and Liam Scales came in for his first start. Betis boss Pellegrini also made nine changes to his team that beat Barcelona at the weekend. Even with that, on paper, Betis looked like the team with advantage.



Celtic got an early corner on two minutes and it was a great pinpoint cross into the box by Abada. It landed right at Shaw's feet when he least expected as he failed to make decent contact before being put out by a Betis defender. Abada again floated a beautiful ball in from the left corner and was met by a rising Welsh who flashed a header across the keeper and into the right corner of the net. Three minutes in and 1-0 Celtic.



Betis looked good on the break and managed a few early opportunities of their own. First Miranda put an inviting ball across Bains goal but went wide. On 16 minutes a gilt edged chance was put wide by Lynas when he looked like scoring. He broke through one on one with Bain but Urhoghide did enough to trail him and denied him a clean strike.

Bain had to be alert when he parried a save from a Joaquín snap shot on 21 minutes. Albian Ajeti was unfortunate a few minutes later when a sloppy pass back to the keeper, Da Silva, took a kick that deflected off Ajeti and went just wide. It was to be Ajeti’s last action as he pulled up with a hamstring.

Much to the surprise of everyone watching, Postecoglou replaced him with Kyogo. The only fit striker we have at this moment but that didn’t go too well as the Wee man would also fall foul to a hamstring injury later in the game and it doesn’t sound promising. This was a tight contest and Betis were unlucky not to pull level when Akouokou hit a blistering strike from outside the box that rattled Scot Bains crossbar right on the stroke of half time.



On 53 minutes Bitton lost the ball in the middle of the park which Betis latched onto. Christian Tello broke away and made it into the Celtic box but a last ditch sliding tackle by Stephen Welsh got enough on the ball to make it bobble. Tello couldn’t control properly and shot wide.

Celtic had chances to pull further away when a break from Abada who fed the ball to Urhoghide. He made it to the bye line and passed across only to see Ruibal turn it wide. Next was a great effort when Abada sent in a corner that found Bitton free who caught it on the volley. Unfortunately he didn’t strike it cleanly and the keeper got down to gather.



Postecoglou made a trio of substitutions (65) when he decided to call on the experience of McGregor, Turnbull and Johnston. Off went Soro, Shaw, both on yellow cards and young Adam Montgomery who has had better games. It would turn out to be an inspired change as the game played out.

It had been coming and the equalizing goal arrived in 69 minutes with a well worked move from the right wing. Joaquin turned Johnston on the edge of the box to make space to find Iglesias, he hit a fierce shot that Bain got down well to save but it rebounded off the post and Bain to find the net.



It would take The Hoops all of three minutes to restore the lead and it came after a few poor lapses of concentration at the edge of the Betis box. The ball broke for Mikey Johnston who took two touches to make space and flash it across the face of goal. Ewan Henderson who had literally just replaced Kyogo got ahead to tap in for the second and his first touch of the game. Parkhead erupted. This team had self belief.



Just two minutes later on 74 minutes and it was that man again for Betis, Borja Iglesias who grabbed their second. He broke away on the shoulder of Urhoghide and faced by Bain he coolly slotted the ball into the far right corner. There was so much action at both ends that none of these players got a minute to take a breather but it made for brilliant viewing.

On 77 minutes Abada picked the ball up on the halfway line and slotted a pass through to Johnston who marauded forward. He sent a beautiful weighted ball into space for Abada who was racing into the box and was tripped by Gonzalez. The referee pointed to the spot without hesitation. Up stepped David Turnbull to stroke it into the left corner to make it 3-2 to the Bhoys.



A total of 9 minutes extra time was added by the ref because of a clash of heads between Urhoghide and Bitton halted proceedings for around 5 minutes and also the glut of substitutions. It was 90+6 when Betis should have leveled again. Another cross from the brilliant Joaquiń found the head of Juanmi who rattled off the crossbar. The follow up shot by Da Silva was headed off the line to safety by Nir Bitton.

It wasn’t over yet as Celtic broke away on the halfway line with three Hoops shirts on one blue shirt. Mikey Johnston got forward and as he was faced with the keeper he tried to feed Henderson on his right. It was cleared to safety by González. Johnston should have taken the effort himself or the easier option was Abada free on his left. It wouldn’t have made a difference as the final whistle went for a Celtic victory.



It was an impressive finish to the group and another season 9 points would be enough to see us through. Real Betis pipped us to the second place spot finishing on 10 points. The biggest worry now for Ange Is the amount of bodies piling up on the treatment tables and makes December fixture list that wee bit more difficult. Big credit though to the players who were chosen for the game and have done no harm in staking a place in the team.

MOTM: Urhoghide. The big lad had a few shaky moments in the first half but settled and looked comfortable and composed. Always aware of his team mates positions.


LINEUPS:

CELTIC: Bain, Urhoghide, Bitton, Welsh, Scales, Soro, McCarthy, Abada, Shaw, Montgomery, Ajeti. SUBS: Taylor, Kyogo, Turnbull, Hart, Johnston, McGregor, Murray, Henderson, Oluwayemi, Juranovic (4-2-3-1)


REAL BETIS: D.Da Silva, Ruibal, Pezzella, González, Miranda, Akouokou, W.Carvalho, Lainez, S.Rodríguez, Tello, Iglesias. SUBS: Montoya, Bartra, Ruiz, Juanmi, Canales, Da Silva, Lopero, Guradado, Rodríguez, González, Rebello. (4-2-3-1)


POSSESSION: Celtic 45% Real Betis 55%

SHOTS: Celtic 8 - 19 Real Betis

SHOTS ON TARGET: Celtic 4 - 7 Real Betis

PASSES: Celtic 415 - 481 Real Betis

COMPLETION: Celtic 80% Real Betis 84%



By Packybhoy