Callum McGregor, who scored the game’s only goal.
SUMMARY
Celtic came away from KR-vollur with a one goal victory in a game that could easily have seen them score 3 or 4 goals. For much of the game it looked like Celtic may not find a breakthrough after striking the woodwork 3 times, and their eventual goal came with a touch of good fortune. The visitors dominated proceedings and nearly found an early breakthrough after a long range Kris Commons volley struck the hosts’ crossbar. He struck another long range effort just moments later, but his effort was scrambled wide by Stefan Magnusson. It took Celtic until the hour mark to really threaten the Reykjavik goal as Leigh Griffiths cut inside from the right flank and unleashed a thunderbolt which struck the underside of the crossbar. The Hoops could and should have taken the lead when Magnusson couldn’t deal with a 20 yard effort from Commons, the parried effort was followed up by McGregor and the ex Lillestrom keeper spread himself well to keep the follow up shot out, the ball fell to subsitute Teemu Pukki, who hit the post from an awkward angle despite an empty net. Celtic’s breakthrough finally came in the 84th minute as Callum McGregor, making his first senior start for the club, cut inside from the right and hit a shot which deflected off of Farid Zato past Magnusson into the net to give Ronny Deila a victory in his first competitive game in charge of Celtic.
LINEUPS
KR Reykjavik
SUBS:
Gunnarsson
Jensson (GK)
Jonsson
Ormarsson (Atlason 88′)
Ragnarsson (Martin 81′)
Sigurjonsson
Zato (Balbi 58′)
CELTIC
SUBS:
Boerrigter
Henderson
Kayal
Matthews
O’Connell
Pukki
Zaluska (GK)
MATCH REPORT
Celtic came into this match at KR-vollur expecting to dominate from the get-go and they started off well, as in the 1st minute, an over the top ball from Mulgrew played in Leigh Griffiths down the right hand side, but a poor first touch prevented him from getting a shot on goal. Just a few minutes later, Griffiths was part of the action again, as he cut inside from the right and flicked the ball over Gretar Sigurdarson’s head before Kris Commons unleashed a volley from 25 yards which struck the top of ‘keeper Stefan Magnusson’s crossbar.
Two minutes later and the ex Nottingham Forest and Derby midfielder was at it again, hitting another left footed drive which was awkwardly palmed wide by Magnusson. The game slowed down from here on in, but Celtic continued to dominate the possession stats, and Reykjavik found it hard to get out of their own half. Stefan Johansen attempted to find the net from just outside the box, but Sigurdarson was able to block the shot. Charlie Mulgrew was a bright spark for Celtic during this period, playing some nice passes from midfield through the channels and finding Griffiths and McGregor in good positions. It wasn’t until the 23rd minute that Reykjavik fashioned a chance of note, as ex Middlesbrough academy striker Gary Martin latched onto a headed clearance from Mikael Lustig and drove at a retreating Efe Ambrose before drilling a shot across the ground which was well held by Bhoys’ goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who had recently returned from a spell with the England squad in Brazil.
There was no shortage of atmosphere in the ground, with both sets of fans in good voice. Celtic were struggling to fashion any clear cut chances, and the next 10 minutes was summed up by a Griffiths effort from about 45 yards after Magnusson came out a long way to clear the ball. Anthony Stokes, who had struggled to have any real impact on the game up to this point, hit a volley wide in the 33rd minute after playing a neat aerial 1-2 with Commons. Reykjavik were still toiling and failing to make anything happen in Celtic’s half. They had a number of free kicks in good wide positions, but many of them failed to beat the first man. Despite their struggles going forward, they were defending well, their wide men coming back to create what was effectively a defensive line of 6, a system which was frustrating Celtic and limiting their chances.
It wasn’t until 2 minutes from half time that Ronny Deila’s men were able to get behind the Reykjavik defence, as Mulgrew played another flighted ball down the right flank which found Lustig, but his drilled cross was well dealt with by Aron Josepsson.
HALF TIME: KR REYKJAVIK 0 – 0 CELTIC
The hosts began the second half with some intent, and just a minute after the restart, Jonas Saevarsson played a nice through ball towards Emil Atlason, but the danger was dealt with by Lustig. Celtic were back on the front foot a couple of minutes later as Commons found himself in another shooting position, but couldn’t hit the target as he fired with with his weaker right foot. In the 52nd minute of the game, Commons fired yet another shot on goal as Stokes controlled a long ball just inside the box before laying it off to the attacking midfielder, who fired over from 20 yards. Commons yet again found himself to be the architect of more danger for Reykjavik, as he fed Stokes down the left wing before receiving a cut back from the Irish forward, but he couldn’t find a clean enough strike and his 12 yard effort was safely held by Magnusson. Celtic were looking more and more like finding a breakthrough and in the 58th minute, Stokes hit a long range free kick just over the bar. Griffiths came agonizingly close to opening the scoring a couple of minutes later as he cut inside from the right flank and unleashed a powerful left footed strike which thundered against the underside of the crossbar before being cleared away by the Reykjavik defence. The ex-Wolves striker, operating today on the right hand side, caused more trouble for the hosts in the 66th minute as he dribbled past a couple of challenges before hitting a shot well wide from outside the box.
Reykjavik were finding it tough to deal with Celtic down the right hand side, with most of the visitors’ offence coming down that flank, and Kris Commons was running the show in the centre of midfield. Runar Kristinsson’s men weren’t threatening Forster’s goal at all, and were continuing to condense the midfield and defense, trying to prevent Celtic from fashioning chances.
Celtic were denied yet again in the 77th minute as Commons fired another shot towards the goal, a shot which was parried back out by Magnusson, who leaped and spread himself well to deny McGregor on the follow up, before Teemu Pukki hit the post from an awkward angle with only a defender left to beat. Reykjavik created what was probably their best chance of the match a mere 5 minutes later as an excellent cross from Haukur Hauksson down the right side shaved the head of ex Celtic man Kjartan Finnbogason, a touch which left substitute Thorsteinn Ragnarsson unable to control the ball with his chest, and the ball ran into the hands of Forster. Celtic substitute Derk Boerrigter came close to finding the breakthrough just a minute later as he drove infield from the left, only to see his effort tipped over the bar by Magnusson. From the resulting corner, the ball fell to Pukki, who was also denied by ‘keeper Magnusson.
The visitors finally found the goal that they had long been searching for in the 84th minute, as Callum McGregor, making his first senior start for the club, cut inside from the right flank before firing a shot which nicked off of Farid Zato before going past Magnusson, a bitter pill to swallow for Reykjavik, who had defended valiantly up to this point. The hosts were unable to find a way back into the match, and the closest they came was a 30 yard effort from Zato which was sliced well wide of the target. Celtic can go into the second leg, which will be played at Murrayfield next Tuesday, fully expecting to progress to the next round of qualifying after dominating the game.
FULL TIME: KR REYKJAVIK 0 – 1 CELTIC (McGregor 84′)
PLAYER RATINGS
REYKJAVIK
Magnusson – 7
Gunnarsson – 5
Sigurdarson – 7
Josepsson – 6
Hauksson – 6
Balbi – 5
Sigurdsson – 5
Saevarsson – 6
Atlason – 6
Martin – 6
Finnbogason – 5
Subs:
Zato – 6
Ragnarsson – N/A
Ormarsson – N/A
CELTIC
Forster – 6
Lustig – 7
Ambrose – 6
Van Dijk – 7
Izaguirre – 6
Griffiths – 7
Johansen – 6
Mulgrew – 7
McGregor – 7
Commons – 8 (MoTM)
Stokes – 5
Subs:
Boerrigter – 7
Pukki – 6
Under The Floodlights 