Celtic are up and running in the Champions League.
Before a ball was kicked, a lot was made about Celtic’s opening meeting with Slovan Bratislava and how only three points would have been accepted.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have made a 100% start to the new season, so from that sense, they had no excuses because many players were in form and the squad was healthy.
Liam Scales was the man to get things going following a header from a corner, before the team started dominating and ended up cruising to maximum points.
Celtic ended up securing a deserved 5-1 win, an emphatic opening victory and a statement that they mean business in this newly revamped Champions League format.
Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards were working for CBS Sports when, at half-time, they were analysing the action from all the Champions League games.
Unfortunately, Celtic were the only ones to have scored, the other games were still goalless, before they sparked into life in the second half.
But, for CBS’ sponsors, Heineken, Carragher and Richards had to pick their ‘Heineken half-time moment’, and with only one goal scored, they proceeded to describe Scales’ goal, but they had to do it with some humour.
The former Liverpool centre-back joked that Scales will be ‘on the ales tonight’ after that goal, whilst Richards made a pun-intended joke relating to the Irishman’s surname, as they told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (18/09/24 at 8:55 pm).
Celtic beat Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League
“It’s at Celtic and it’s from a set-piece,” said Carragher. “It’s that man, a defender, Liam Scales and he is going to be on the ales tonight.”
Richards then added: “That man Scales scores a goal. I wonder if Slovan can balance it up in the second half. It’s not a rhyme. Scales. Balance.”
Pressure eased off Brendan Rodgers
Rodgers himself, the players and the club just needed a win and performance like this.
Yes, they should be winning these types of games, but you still have to get the job done and they did so with pure style.
READ MORE: Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava LIVE: Hosts make Champions League history – as it happened
The pressure is still there, but you sense, for the right reasons, it has been eased, as fans can now look forward to the rest of the competition.
On paper, Celtic’s toughest test is coming up when they take on Borussia Dortmund in front of that famous yellow wall.
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