Celtic may have played their UEFA Champions League opener on Tuesday but there was still plenty of Hoops interest in Wednesday’s action.
The first matchday is over and done with, and we are one of 11 sides yet to register a point. There’s always matchday two though.
The Wednesday round of games saw three former Celtic players feature, with varying results.
Mohamed Elyounoussi is in the competition proper this season with Danish champions Copenhagen. Alongside Jordan Larsson, the Norwegian started as his side earned a credible 2-2 draw away to Galatasaray.
Elyounoussi even struck the opening goal of the match after 34 minutes, chesting the ball inside the Turkish side’s box, swiveling and hammering home with his left foot.
It was his first goal in the Champions League proper since he netted for Basel in a win away to Manchester City in 2018. That also happened to be the last time he played in the full competition.
Kieran Tierney was also making a long-awaited return to European football’s premier club competition. The full-back’s last appearance in the tournament arrived in 2018 when Celtic went down at home to Anderlecht.
The result was a little more positive this time as his Real Sociedad earned a 1-1 draw at home to Inter Milan. Who Scored gave Tierney a rating of 7.01, making him one of La Real’s top performers despite only playing 61 minutes.
Finally, there was more Real Madrid pain for Josip Juranovic. The Croatian was playing his second successive group-stage match in the Santiago Bernabéu — this time for Union Berlin.
The Bundesliga outfit gave a good account of themselves before succumbing to a 94th-minute Jude Bellingham winner. Juranovic has now lost three matches to Madrid in the space of 12 months.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers was asked about Celtic transfer spending in wake of Feyenoord defeat
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