Most of the plaudits for Celtic’s winning goal in the 1-0 victory over Riga will go to Mohamed Elyounoussi and Jeremie Frimpong.
Frimpong for his cross, and Elyounoussi for his winning goal in the 90th minute which prevented the Hoops from going into an energy sapping period of extra time.
However, the role of another player in the winning goal should not be forgotten about – Albian Ajeti. The striker, who joined the Hoops from West Ham for a fee reported by The Scottish Sun to be £5m, came on as a second-half substitute to help the Hoops look for the winning goal.
Only bad luck denied him a goal
Twice he came very close to giving the Hoops the lead, only to be denied by bad luck and ricochets which saw the ball end up in the arms of the Riga goalkeeper.
However, he still had a big part to play in the winning goal. When Frimpong’s cross went into the penalty box, Ajeti did what all good strikers do. He made a nuisance of himself.
He ran into the penalty box and his movement took out a defender. That enabled Elyounoussi to have space to run into and hit the shot into the net which gave the Hoops the win.
Ajeti can be very pleased with his performance against Riga. His position throughout was excellent. Not only for the winning goal, but for the chances he had, which only didn’t find the back of the net due to bad luck.
Still not fully fit yet
It should be remembered that the player isn’t even fully fit yet. Despite that, he is still managing to make significant contributions to the Hoops first-team.
You would not be surprised to see him back in the Hoops starting line-up to face Hibernian on Sunday. Often a sign of a good striker is that they are not only about scoring goals. That is certainly the case when it comes to Ajeti.
He has proven to be an excellent signing so far and long may it continue.
In other news, Celtic’s Europa League play-off opponents have been confirmed as Sarajevo.
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