Celtic 3-1 Rennes – three stunning stats

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One of the joys of Celtic playing in the Europa League, for those football anoraks like myself, is the increased number of match stats available.

Unlike on the domestic scene, when little information is easily accessible, UEFA competition really delivers some in-depth figures from what has gone on during the 90 minutes. With all this information available, it’s easy to form a greater understanding of what has gone before.

Renowned football site WhoScored.com have a vast array of stats from last night’s match that you can find here. But if you don’t have the time to trawl through the swathes of numbers, fear not, we’ve done it for you.

Here are the three most interesting stats we found.

Ryan Christie leads the way… in tackles

Much is made about the Scottish international’s contributions in an attacking sense. Christie has already netted three Europa League group stage goals – more than any other Celtic player. But his impact doesn’t stop there.

The 24-year-old also offers so much when we’re not in possession. That was highlighted by the remarkable stat that he completed more tackles in the match than any other Hoops player.

Christie had four tackles in his 78 minutes on the pitch. That’s more than the likes of Christopher Jullien, Kristoffer Ajer and Greg Taylor completed.

If you were just looking at the stats with no knowledge of the player’s positions – you’d be pretty certain that Christie was a defender.

Callum McGregor doesn’t give the ball away

Perhaps Callum McGregor’s greatest trait is his care of the football. The midfielder hardly ever gives the ball away and that was shown once again last night in the passing statistics.

McGregor attempted 73 passes – the third most behind Jullien and Ajer – but he only misplaced a single one. 72 perfect passes out of 73 – giving him a passing accuracy of 98.6%.

The little workhorse is such an important player for us in Europe. Perhaps people don’t quite realise his true value.

Johnston’s impressive cameo

Mikey Johnston seemed pretty keen to impact the game when he was thrown on to make his long awaited return. The tricky winger hadn’t been seen in a Celtic shirt since early September so it was perhaps no surprise that he made such a good early impression.

His goal was terrific but it is another stat that is perhaps most impressive. The 20-year-old was only on the pitch for 24 minutes but he completed more successful dribbles (two) than any other Celtic player.

The winger gives us something on the left-side that few others do. It’s shaping up to be a fascinating battle between him and Mohamed Elyounoussi for that first-team berth.