When it comes to tonight’s game against Rennes, there is one trend we could put to rest – the opening goal.
Celtic will face the Ligue 1 side in an exciting Parkhead clash tonight. Three points against Julien Stephan’s men could seal top spot if Cluj lose in Lazio. Considering the Italians still have a narrow chance of qualification, you have to believe they’re favourites at their home ground.
Meanwhile, with Rennes having failed to pick up a single win in four European matches, many of us are heading into tonight’s game with supreme confidence. Our terrific display in the 1-1 draw in France also helps morale-levels.
However, historically against Rennes, despite not losing to them in three meetings, we’ve never once scored the opening goal.
Our first competitive game against them came back in October 2011. Joe Ledley’s goal canceled out a woeful own goal by Cha Du-Ri. Fraser Forster will remember it well, as he was our goalkeeper at the time:
Fortunately, Celtic managed to get their only win against Rennes at Parkhead just two weeks later. Anthony Stokes scored a brace before Gary Hooper clinched a third in a solid Celtic Park win.
That contest was enough to keep our slim Europa League hopes alive. However, once again, it had to be another salvage mission. Kader Mangane opened the scoring with a free header in only the second minute of the game. Anthony Stokes allowed the centre-back to nip in front of him as he towered home before the Hoops came back:
We don’t need a video reminder of what happened back in September though. Kristoffer Ajer clumsily hauled M’Baye Niang to the deck with too much shirt-tugging. It allowed him to win a penalty which he dispatched himself.
All goals came from individual mistakes
These three goals all have something in common outside of being openers – they were all individual defensive mistakes that were highly preventable.
Fortunately, Celtic have shown some sensational character in this particular fixture in the past. We’ve never lost to Rennes, with one win and two draws to our name.
But these openings goals should hopefully be a lesson to our players tonight not to get complacent. We’ve never had a comfortable evening against Rennes before, and there’s no reason to believe we will tonight.
We have to be switched on from the get-go. Lenny is hopefully replaying footage of these goals to show what can happen when we allow a slip in concentration levels.
We know we have the quality going forward to hurt Rennes. Outside of that Ajer foul in France, we did defend well for the rest of the contest. But it’s time for us to make sure that, for the first time in our history, it’s our turn to have the first say against our French rivals.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
