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Steffen Schmidt - August 10, 2021
Celtic vs Jablonec
UEFA Europa League Qualification,
Date: Thursday, 12 August 2021
Kick-off 19:45 UK/ 20:45 CET
Venue: Celtic Park.
Celtic finally recorded their first win under Ange Postecoglou seven days ago on Czech soil. The Scots thus carry a two-goal cushion into this second leg of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round tie against Jablonec.
It was the fourth luck charm for Ange Postecoglu as the Australian manager celebrated his inaugural victory in his fourth game at the helm.
While they still shipped two goals on the defensive end, Celtic produced their finest attacking showing of the season, bagging as many as four goals at the opposite end.
Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi marked his first Celtic start with an early goal, while Liel Abada, James Forrest, and Ryan Christie were also on target on the occasion.
Postecoglou took a big gamble by dropping out his main striker Odsonne Edouard from the starting eleven after the Frenchman had failed to find the back of the net more than twice in his previous eleven appearances.
It proved out to be a glorious decision as his replacement Furuhashi went on to score on Thursday in Europe and back it up with a hat-trick in the weekend’s 6-0 drubbing of Dundee FC in Glasgow.
Celtic’s young attacking line should have plenty of room to create up front in the reverse clash against Jablonec, too.
The Czechs look dreadful defensively at the beginning of the season. On top of shipping four goals in the first leg of this tie against Celtic, Petr Rada’s troops allowed five goals in their last two domestic outings (against Mlada Boleslav and Bohemians).
Jablonec have not been capable of keeping things quiet at the back recently, while Celtic look to have found the momentum under the new manager.
The hosts notched ten goals in the last two outings and we fancy them to produce yet another strong attacking performance on Thursday. This should be a one-way street from the first whistle to the end.
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