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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Craig Swan

How Odsonne Edouard found his Celtic shooting boots after key half-time switch in Sarajevo

Neil Lennon revealed Odsonne Edouard’s changed his dancing slippers to help smooth Celtic through their slippy Champions League opener.

The French striker struggled badly to get to the grips with the soaking Sarajevo surface as the Hoops fell behind in their first qualifying round crunch.

However, after Mikey Johnston levelled with a special strike, Edouard swapped his studs to weave his magic.

Celtic’s record signing bagged the priceless second goal before sub Scott Sinclair sealed the deal and pushed the Hoops towards the next stage of the competition.

Lennon confessed the fancy footwork was sparked by an interval change and Edouard scored within six minutes.

He said: “Odsonne had to change his boots at half-time because the pitch was very heavy.

“He was slipping a little bit, but looked a lot more assured in the second-half and is a big game player.

“You don’t have to whip him too much to get a response from him. His finish showed great composure.

“To score three goals away from home, no matter the level or stage, at this stage of the season is very promising.”

(Ross Turpie)

Johnston also had words of extreme praise for Johnston after his spectacular contribution.

The 20-year-old crashed a stunning equaliser to ease any stress caused by the hosts first-half opener before Sinclair added the third and the boss added: “Mikey scored a great goal, it was great hit.

“Again, he did some special things in the game, so he can be delighted. It was a really important goal at that stage of the game. It settled us and we had control after that.”

Johnston was understandably chuffed with his effort and beamed: “I worked myself a couple of yards of space and I just hit it. I am happy with it.

“I have scored some good goals so I don’t know [if his best], maybe.

“It was good to respond like that. When you are coming away from home it is always going to be hard.

“The boys dug deep and we got a result and that is exactly what we wanted to take back to Celtic Park.”

(FEHIM DEMIR/EPA-EFE/REX)

Lennon, naturally, is refusing to take anything for granted ahead of the return a week tonight.

But, with the only real setback was a rolled ankle for debutant Boli Mbombo, the manager said: “I am absolutely delighted with the result and performance.

“It is so early in our preparation but the condition of the players, the quality of the goals in the game was great. It was a terrific team performance.

“They were well set up tactically, we knew they would be a real danger at set-plays, which proved to be the case, and we had to dig in a little bit and once we did we took control of the game.

(Ross Turpie)

“I was really pleased about how we reacted to their goal. We were a bit cagey, trying to work them out, and once we got the ball down and moved it quicker, we got a lot of joy from that.

“The subs who came on all made a telling contribution in the last half hour of the game. It was a great all-round squad performance.

“We still have a job to do. We have a game at the weekend which will be important in terms of preparation of the second game in terms of those who didn’t play and the lads who are a bit behind.

“Hopefully, we can edge them close to the level of the rest and we can gauge whether they will be ready for second leg.”

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