Celtic’s less than impressive run saw them being eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers for the first time in Brendan Rodgers’ reign. But the champions of Scotland retained their European status making it to the group stages of UEFA Europa League contest where they have been drawn alongside Rosenborg, RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg.
Celtic, meanwhile, knocked Rosenborg out from the Champions League second qualifying round but they failed to make any progress furthermore. The Norwegian outfit were beaten 3-1 last time but fought hard this term to salvage something from this problematic away tie. They, however, suffered a late heartbreak when substitute Leigh Griffiths headed home in closing minutes to clinch a scrappy victory after an overall underwhelming show at Parkhead.
Below are the Celtic players rated in their narrow 1-0 win against Rosenborg BK.
Craig Gordon: 7
Had a pretty quiet outing as the visitors failed to create enough threat high up the pitch and test the Hoops custodian.
Mikael Lustig: 7.5
The Swedish international whipped in a few crosses from the right but his long balls lacked accuracy and failed to cause enough menace in the Rosenborg backline.
Dedryck Boyata: 8.5
The Belgian was not busy throughout the game, but he was focused while clearing out the risks in first place. Tried to build the game up from the deep defence and provided an assist to Griffiths’ late header that sealed the victory.
Filip Benkovic: 7.5
The Leicester City loanee showed exquisite passing traits, great aerial supremacy and timely intercepting attributes. Looked threatening from set-pieces and seemed to have settled down well in Celtic’s defensive line.
Kieran Tierney: 8
Was energetic, made persistent runs using the width of the pitch, whipped in crosses from the left and tried his luck from a distance.
Scott Brown: 6.5
Was not his best of outings as while the skipper did not find it hard to win possession in the middle of the park, he lacked the creativity and purpose to break the deadlock.
Olivier Ntcham: 6
Received a marching order against St Mirren in the league and his rough run continued tonight as well. Was sloppy with his passes, lost duels, was dispossessed once and looked sloppy while making tackles.
James Forrest: 5.5
Had a very disappointing outing as he offered little high up the pitch and was easily dealt with by the Rosenborg backline. Was replaced by teenager Michael Johnston a couple of minutes before the hour mark.
Callum McGregor: 6
Has not been his best since the past few fixtures as the Scotsman failed to deploy the visitors’ attack from the left despite a few crosses and cut insides. The final ball let him down time and again and the versatile midfielder failed to alter the fate of the game.
Tom Rogic: 6.5
The Australian playmaker made some down the middle runs, forced Andre Hansen into making some decent saves between the sticks but failed to break the defensive resilience of their Norwegian opponents. Was replaced by Scott Sinclair seconds before the hour mark.
Odsonne Edouard: 5.5
Had a couple of attempts on goal – one went off target, and the other one was denied by the Rosenborg custodian. The Frenchman failed to make an impact once more and got replaced by Leigh Griffiths at around the 75th-minute mark.
Substitutes
Scott Sinclair: 6
An acrobatic effort went just wide minutes into his introduction.
Michael Johnston: 6
The academy prodigy played some decent link-up football but skied one effort towards the end of the game.
Leigh Griffiths: 7
Came on in place of Edouard and sealed all three points with a very late header to relieve the home supporters.
