A stunning double from the summer signing Camilo Durán helped Celtic open up a commanding lead against Lask in their Champions League playoff. Benjamin Nygren also produced a superb finish to send Martin O’Neill’s side on their way to a 3-0 first-leg win over their Austrian opponents in Glasgow. The visitors had two goals disallowed for offside and created chances throughout in an open encounter but Celtic were clinical as they continued their strong start to the season.
Nygren has been at the heart of it with four goals and four assists in as many games and he opened the scoring in the 26th minute. The Swede readjusted his body to volley into the top corner from 20 yards after a weak clearance from Kieran Tierney’s cross. Durán scored an almost identical goal 12 minutes later, firing into the same top corner from the same spot after Tierney’s cross was headed out.
The only major difference was the Colombian struck his volley first time. The former Qarabag forward netted his third Celtic goal midway through the second half, exchanging passes with Nygren after a flick from another summer signing, Kasper Høgh, and stroking the ball into the top corner from inside the box. O’Neill said of his double goalscorer: “He was exceptional.
He’s been fantastic for us since he’s arrived at the football club. His goals were terrific, his play was great. His running back, helping full-backs, helping Colby [Donovan] out on a number of occasions.
It was just a magnificent performance. Whatever we paid for Durán, I think he has paid his ticket by now. I don’t think it was an awful lot of money when you consider some of the fees that they’re talking about for the Premier League.
The centre-forward [Hogh] has given us a bit of presence there, which I don’t think we had last year, despite Daizen (Maeda) probably winning the league for us single-handedly. It’s nice to have that.” The victory puts Celtic firmly in the driving seat before the second leg in Linz next Tuesday and eased nerves among home fans after more transfer tribulations. Celtic went out at this stage last year, drawing a blank against Kairat Almaty after failing to sign a proven striker.
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