Celtic duo Mohamed Elyounoussi and Kristoffer Ajer both played starring roles as Norway bounced back from their Euro 2020 exit to down Romania 4-0.
Elyounoussi only came on for the closing stages of the 2-1 extra-time defeat to Serbia on Thursday, whilst Ajer played the full contest. However, both men were in from the start in last night’s Nations League match – a game in which both made their impact.
The headlines were dominated by Dortmund man Erling Haaland’s hat-trick whilst Alexander Serloth bagged the other.
From a Celtic perspective, the standout was Moi Elyounoussi. The on-loan Southampton man was given a superb 8.01/10 rating by stat experts WhoScored.
Elyounoussi managed to clock three shots and two key passes alongside a passing accuracy of 84.6%, as well as bagging four successful dribbles throughout the contest. He did his future chances no harm ahead of their meeting with Northern Ireland on Wednesday.
As for Ajer, he was ranked with a score of 6.99/10. But even though it was lower than Moi’s, he still had a productive and solid evening for the Norwegians.
Ajer keeps out the Romanians
The clean sheet is obviously the outstanding success story of the night for the Celtic defender. However, he also managed a highly impressive passing accuracy of 94.1% from 34 passes made on the night.
Ajer also managed more successful challenges than his centre-back partner Stefan Strandberg. The big Norwegian needed a performance like this one after being KO’d by Serbia on Thursday night.
The victory ensures that Norway remain level on points with Austria after three games as they look to win what’s looking like being a two-horse race.
Celtic fans, given the recent problems they’ve had with players needing to self-isolate, will perhaps care more about their players simply returning back to Glasgow safe and Covid-free.
However, it’s also important not to forget that we want them back confident too. This win and display from both Ajer and Moi will do wonders after what was a painful and deflating evening for them on Thursday.
Hopefully, another dominant display follows against Northern Ireland on Wednesday. We could certainly use any positives we can get – so long as they aren’t tests!
In other news, Celtic are facing an anxious wait after another reported blow last night.
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