Celtic 1 – 1 Midtjylland

Ange Postecoglou’s tenure as Celtic boss started with an incident-packed 1-1 draw with Midtjylland as either side ended the Champions League qualifier with 10 males.

New Hoops signing Liel Abada, the 19-year-old Israeli winger, marked his aggressive debut by scoring within the thirty seventh minute of the primary leg at Parkhead.

Nevertheless, Celtic defender Nir Bitton dampened the passion among the many 9,000 residence followers when he was despatched off late within the first half for needlessly choosing up the second of two yellow playing cards for remonstrating with Anders Dreyer after he had
dived within the field.

The Danish wideman was despatched off 10 minutes into the second half for one more dive and because the recreation swung from finish to finish Evander levelled for the guests within the 66th minute with a whipped-in free-kick to arrange properly subsequent week’s second
leg in Denmark, with the away targets rule not making use of this season.

Constructive but irritating Postecoglou Parkhead debut

Celtic’s greatest residence crowd since coronavirus restrictions got here into place in March 2020 lent a raucous ambiance to their aspect’s first significant recreation of the marketing campaign.

Postecoglou had voiced issues over his squad’s health and over how lengthy it was taking to get new faces into his under-strength squad however he fielded nearly his most skilled workforce.

There was a well-known face within the opposition, former Hoops defender Erik Sviatchenko, who captained the Danish aspect.

There was some concern for Postecoglou within the tenth minute when Bitton, after some therapy to a face damage following a problem by striker Junior Brumado, went up the tunnel leaving the Hoops with 10 males.

Moments later, Raphael Nwadike additionally went off with a head damage after a problem by Anthony Ralston and either side had been a person down earlier than each casualties returned to the fray.

Within the twenty fourth minute striker Odsonne Edouard fired a shot on the flip over the bar from the sting of the field.

The match burst into life within the thirty sixth minute, nonetheless, when Hoops attacker Ryan Christie struck the put up from shut vary from Abada’s cross after which headed over from the identical participant’s supply.

A minute later, Abada confirmed the way it ought to be achieved when he swiftly flashed a rebound into the web after Midtjylland keeper Jonas Lossl parried a strong drive from Christie. Extra drama quickly adopted.

Bitton, booked earlier for a foul on Brumado, was despatched off by referee Sandro Scharer for lifting his hand to Dreyer after the Midtjylland participant appeared to go down too simply within the field.

Dreyer was additionally booked whereas 18-year-old defender Dane Murray changed Abada to make his aggressive debut as Postecoglou reshuffled.

The Celtic followers cheered when the Danish winger obtained one other yellow when he went down on the fringe of the field below the shut consideration of recent Hoops captain Callum McGregor.

Then, as the idea returned to Parkhead, the Scotland midfielder skimmed the bar from the sting of the field with a terrific drive earlier than Edouard was put by means of solely to hit Lossl with an unconvincing strike – and Celtic quickly paid for
that miss.

After being introduced down by Celtic defender Stephen Welsh 10 yards in from the byline on the left, Brazilian midfielder Evander, who had come shut minutes earlier with a drive, hammered his free-kick in off the far put up with questions round Parkhead ‘keeper Vasilis Barkas. Extra huffing and puffing ensued however the tie stays up for grabs.

What the supervisor mentioned…

Celtic supervisor Ange Postecoglou chatting with BBC: “It is a irritating consequence. When it comes to efficiency although, I’m very happy with the gamers. I assumed it was an amazing effort.

“We managed the sport nicely within the first half, obtained our purpose and we had created a few possibilities earlier than that. We restricted them to hardly something then clearly we’re all the way down to 10 males for a big period of time. Nonetheless, I assumed we dealt with that nicely, we had been good and compact and created our possibilities.”

What’s subsequent?

Celtic host West Ham in a pre-season pleasant on Saturday at 3pm earlier than travelling to FC Midtjylland for the second leg of their Champions League second qualifying spherical tie on Wednesday at 6.45pm.