And here’s your match report. With that, I shall depart - thanks for reading, and have a pleasant evening.
Should your thirst for the Europa League not yet be sated, enjoy Simon Burnton’s MBM of Chelsea vs Videoton, where Alvaro Morata is doing a passable impression of latter-era Fernando Torres.
There was a story a few days ago that Brendan Rodgers was in the frame for the Manchester United job. Might be a bit optimistic. Or the work of some enterprising bookies.
It’s not the end of the world in terms of the group as a whole: RB Leipzig won the other game, so they’re level on three points with Celtic, Salzburg out in front on six and Rosenborg look dead and buried on zero.
What to make of that, from Celtic’s point of view? It’s not a particular disgrace to lose to this Salzburg side, who are very impressive and came within an eyelash of qualifying for the Champions League. But good lord Celtic were poor, seemingly deciding that their early goal would be enough and they could quite happily defend for 88 minutes. In the end it was a small miracle they held out for the 53 they did. They offered little in attack and even the defending - stout for long spells - fell apart as the game went on, not a colossal surprise given how knackered they must be.
Full-time: Salzburg 3-1 Celtic
Peeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 1: Should be four, as Ulmer hammers a low cross into the six yard box from the left, and two Celtic defenders stand and watch as Yabo jabs his foot at the ball, but doesn’t get enough on the ball and it skips away for a goal-kick.
90 mins: Three minutes of added time...
88 mins: Christie lucky not to be booked after barging Haidara over for no particular reason.
87 mins: Yabo gets involved straight away, teeing up Januzovic - intentionally or otherwise, difficult to tell - for a shot that twangs off the inside of the post.
85 mins: Final sub of the game as Dabbur gets his round of applause, replaced by Reinhold Yabo.
84 mins: Football briefly stops as a couple of players lie down in the middle of the turf and start kicking each other. Bafflingly, no foul is given either way.
82 mins: Sub for Celtic: Edouard - scorer of the goal but doer of sod all since then - goes off, and Lewis Morgan replaces him. No specialist striker on the pitch for Celtic now - looks like Sinclair will be going up top.
81 mins: This time Junuzovic goes for it, but his shot curls just wide.
80 mins: Salzburg are looking for more, and Schlager tries a shot from outside the box. That’s straight at Gordon though, and he saves comfortably.
78 mins: Also a change for Salzburg, who remove the injured Wolf in favour of Fredrick Gulbrandsen.
77 mins: Change for Celtic: Ryan Christie is on, Mulumbu is off. Takes a while as the officials figure out how to work the electronic board.
76 mins: This had all really been coming since about the fourth minute. Not great for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers.
GOAL! Salzburg 3-1 Celtic (Dabbur 73)
Dabbur steps up, and strokes the kick down the middle.
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Penalty to Salzburg and Forrest sent off!
Oh boy. Forrest and Wolf grapple as they run into the box, but either Forrest is more blatant or Wolf is just clever, because the Salzburg man makes sure to go down inside the box. The referee is quick to flash the red card, but it was extremely doubtful that it really was a clear goalscoring opportunity.
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71 mins: That corner comes to nought, and Nchtam briefly looks in some bother after falling heavily off the pitch. But he gets up and runs away.
70 mins: ANOTHER Celtic attack. Imagine! Hendry plays a delightful ball out to McGregor on the left, who cuts inside on his right foot and shoots: it might have been heading for goal, but it was deflected wide. Meanwhile, a change for Salzburg, who remove Minamino and introduce Zlatko Junozovic.
69 mins: Lainer sticks a cross over from the right, which Lustig gets a head to and loops back to Gordon.
68 mins: That corner is half-cleared, then put back into the box, where Boyata is penalised for a push.
67 mins: Celtic have a crack at this ‘attacking’ thing. Sinclair barrels towards the byline, does very well to wrap his leg around a cross into the middle, which is headed behind for a corner.
65 mins: Salzburg keep coming. Some near-slapstick defending from a couple of Celtic defenders who frankly look wiped out nearly hands them a third, but they eventually get the ball clear.
61 mins: Again, fairly inevitable. A low cross dribbles in from the left, Boyata lunges for it but doesn’t get anything on it, and it squirts through to Minamino who scuffs the ball home. Wouldn’t be a surprise if Salzburg get another couple here.
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GOAL! Salzburg 2-1 Celtic (Minamino 61)
Again, too easy.
60 mins: Change for Celtic: Leigh Griffiths - who has spent most of the game toiling alone up front - is off, and Scott Sinclair is on.
58 mins: Ulmer lines up a shot, but sends it high over the bar. Meanwhile, RB Leipzig have gone 2-0 up in Rosenborg - as things stand, the two Red Bull teams and Celtic are separated by a single point.
57 mins: Celtic have to be careful they don’t concede another one quickly here. Mulumbu goes into the book for a foul outside the box, and Salzburg have a chance for a double strike with the free-kick...
55 mins: Dabbur had always looked the most likely to break through, and eventually he does. A cross from the right goes all the way to Wolf at the back post, he has time to control the ball as Hendry dithers slightly, cuts it back where Dabbur shoots and it squirts under Gordon and into the net. A fan in the crowd holds aloft a (probably homemade) replica of the Europa League trophy that looks about 6ft tall.
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GOAL! Salzburg 1-1 Celtic (Dabbur 55)
Inevitable, really.
54 mins: The second-half has broadly followed the pattern of the first, so far, Celtic snatching brief attacks but mainly having to rely once more on their defending.
51 mins: A booking for Dabbur: he tries to get past Lustig, but this time the Celtic defender does well to fairly shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Dabbur claims a corner so forcefully and presumably profanely that the referee decides it’s worthy of a yellow card.
48 mins: From the resultant corner, Salzburg should have a penalty: the ball is swung over from the left, Lustig flings his arm in the air which the ball strikes. He claims - successfully, as it turns out, because the referee agrees with him - that he was pushed, but that looked extremely soft. Celtic lucky to get away with one there.
47 mins: And they nearly do straight away. Schlager jabs a pass through to Dabbur, who beats the offside trap by millimetres. He shoots, but Gordon rushes out and spreads himself wonderfully, saving Celtic’s bacon.
46 mins: Will Celtic manage to keep up that level of defending, or will Salzburg find a way through?
And we’re back on. Some people in the stands have noticed that Rod Stewart is among them, and spent the minute before the start of the half taking photographs.
Quite a half for Celtic, that. They took the lead before Salzburg really worked out which way was up, and have spent the time since strung across the edge of their own penalty area. They’ve defended stoutly, but can they do it for another 45 minutes?
Half-time: Salzburg 0-1 Celtic
Peeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins +1: Dabbur tries a shot from outside the area, but it’s deflected and loops wide.
44 mins: Celtic have the ball in the net again, but it’s disallowed. Edouard suddenly finds himself in acres down the left channel, he cuts back in on his left but is dispossessed. The ball breaks for Forrest who shoots, it’s saved and Edouard is there to smuggle the rebound home, but he was a good yard beyond the last man.
43 mins: Another Celtic yellow - this time it’s Hendry, who goes into the book for time-wasting while taking a free-kick. A little harsh, but I would venture that the home crowd might have something to do with that - they’ve been enthusiastically booing Gordon every time he takes more than two seconds over a goal kick.
42 mins: Close! Tierney finds himself in the middle of a thicket of players, tries to dribble out but fails. The ball is shifted across the pitch to Schlager, who tries a left-footed shot from 25-ish yards out but it bobbles, and he drags it wide.
39 mins: A yellow card for McGregor, who hasn’t done much else so far. Edouard - who other than his goal has spent the game giving the ball away - plays a poor pass which has the midfielder sliding, which he manages only as far as fouling Lainer. Into the book he goes.
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37 mins: Salzburg on the back foot now...just kidding, they attack again, Lainer played in down the right of the area and he tries a scooped across to the back stick, but it’s easily headed clear. Knock, knock, knockin’ on the door, though.
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34 mins: Lainer tries a more direct approach, hoying a pass over the top looking for the run of Haidara from midfield, but he’s offside. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart is in the stands.
32 mins: Yikes, that was close. Lainer sticks a low cross in the ol’ corridor of uncertainty. Hendry withdraws his foot, presumably fearing a slapstick own-goal, but that allows the ball to travel to the far post, where Minamino slides and only just misses the ball. Close.
31 mins: Another Salzburg attack, as Dabbur is played in on the left side of the area, but this time he’s denied by the sliding Mulumbu, who tracks his man and stops the ball on its way towards goal.
28 mins: Big chance for Salzburg. Minamino finds space in the area, Gordon comes out to stop him as he tries to square across the box, but Boyata jabs out a leg and deflects the ball away from a couple of attackers waiting there for what would have been an open goal. Celtic have defended well so far, but can they do this for another hour?
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27 mins: Salzburg won’t be panicking about this just yet. Despite that early goal, they’ve had much more of the ball and have spent the majority of these 27 minutes in Celtic’s half. It’s just they haven’t managed to get a good final ball in very often and when they have, their finishing has been wayward.
24 mins: A further chance for Salzburg: Schlager gets to the byline and clips a cross back into the middle, Minamino gets to the header again but sends it wide. Of more concern for Celtic is that Lustig and Hendry collide as they try to stop the chance, but after a short spell on the ground both look OK.
21 mins: Salzburg on the attack again, as Minamino puts in a cross, but Lustig does well to snake out a leg and nick the ball away from Dabbur. Splendid defending.
19 mins: Salzburg’s dead ball delivery has been desperate: a free-kick from wide doesn’t beat the first man, and Celtic counter. Forrest - who runs like someone drying their nails - beats one man but is eventually muscled out, and the attack dies.
18 mins: BREAKING: I am now prepared to call this formation for Celtic. It’s 3-5-2. You have no doubt been on tenterhooks waiting for clarification on that one.
16 mins: Tierney tries to break down the left, Lainer puts his arm across the Celtic skipper’s chest, but Tierney pulls him over and thus a free-kick is awarded.
15 mins: Minamino controls the ball with his arm on the edge of the Celtic box which *checks rules* is not allowed. Meanwhile, in the other game in this group, RB Leipzig have taken the lead against Rosenborg.
14 mins: Another effort for Salzburg, as Dabbur gets the ball outside the area and tries to catch Gordon out from 25-odd yards out, but his right footed effort across goal was always curling away and wide.
12 mins: Another chance for Salzburg, as Lainer whips over a cross from the right, Takumi Minamino gets up between two defenders to head towards goal, but it goes safely (from Celtic’s perspective) over the bar.
10 mins: Ach, bit of a rick from Forrest. A cross comes over from the Celtic left, it’s overhit and Forrest is there at the back post to mop up. He has time to take a touch, but carelessly his second touch nudges the ball behind for a corner. Luckily for him, said corner is low and doesn’t beat the first man.
7 mins: Still haven’t quite got a handle on this Celtic formation just yet. If they were playing 4-2-3-1 then Edouard would probably be drifting in from the left, but side from the goal he’s broadly been in the middle. Then again if it’s a 3-5-2 it’s quite a lopsided one, with Forrest on the right playing much further upfield than Tierney on the left. Could be a 4-4-2, then.
5 mins: Xaver Schlager, whose name sounds like an insistent order at 10.55 after the bell has gone in the pub, tries to get Salzburg back into it with an effort from miles out, but it’s easily saved by Craig Gordon.
4 mins: Remarkable stuff from Celtic. No thought to whether it was with or against the run of play, because there has been no run of play to consider so far.
2 mins: Simple as you like. A big ball down the left flank is chased by Edouard, Salzburg defender Andre Ramalho offers all the resistance of a kitten with a head cold, Edouard shrugs him off and Thierry Henrys a finish into the far corner from the left channel.
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GOAL! Salzburg 0-1 Celtic (Eduoard 2)
What a start!
1 min: And we’re away. Celtic are in their traditional hoops, Salzburg in all red. The early exchanges are scrappy, but Amadou Haidara takes the first shot of the match, an ambitious effort from range that goes well wide.
The teams are in the tunnel. They’re pumped, we’re pumped - everyone is PUMPED.
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Rodgers also suggested that Celtic might be playing with a back three tonight, obviously with Tierney as left wing-back, but who’s on the right? Forrest? Mulumbu? Of course, he might just have been chain-yanking...
Brendan speaks: “Scott Brown’s injury will only be for the next couple of weeks. He’ll be doubtful for the weekend but should be ready after the international break. In all phases of the game you have to be very strong. You have to quieten the crowd, and physically you have to be really tight. We have a plan, and obviously we have to be physically right when we haven’t got the ball.”
Did you know that scientist Christian Doppler - he off Doppler Effect fame - comes from Salzburg? Well, he does.
Why yes, I have been reading Wikipedia.
No Scott Brown then. Brave boy, Brendan. He’s just limped off the bus with a stern look on his face, but you can’t read too much into that given he always has a stern look on his face.
Team news
Red Bull Salzburg
Walke; Lainer, Ramalho, Pongracic, Ulmer; Samassekou, Haidara, Schlager; Wolf; Dabbur, Minamino. Subs: Bank, Stankovic, Van der Werff, Todorovic, Junuzovic, Yabo, Prevljak, Gulbrandsen.
Celtic
Gordon; Lustig, Boyata, Hendry, Tierney; Mulumbu, Ntcham, Forrest, McGregor, Edouard; Griffiths. Subs: Bain, Izaguirre, Simunovic, Sinclair, Gamboa, Morgan, Christie.
Referee: Sergey Boyko (Ukraine)
Preamble
Would you want to be the person to tell Scott Brown he isn’t playing in a game he wants to play in? Brendan Rodgers has enough on his plate at the moment, what with Celtic’s lacklustre start to the season, the loose sense that he might have done all he can in Glasgow and, counterintuitively, rumours linking him with jobs in England, without having to worry about this too.
But he might have to take a deep breath and do what needs to be done. Brown has a tight hamstring, hasn’t really trained much recently but his near-pathological desire to play every game is matched only by his dislike for long sleeves and jumpers. “It’s just weighing up the risk of the longer-term scenario,” Rodgers said. “I would never take a risk on any player if it meant he could be out longer-term.”
Fair enough. But, you know, good luck Brendan. The temptation to stick Brown in must be strong, because Old Firm game aside this is probably Celtic’s biggest fixture of the season so far, against a Salzburg team who have apparently forgotten how to lose. Nine wins from nine in their domestic league so far, plus a victory over their fizzy drink cousins Rasenballsport Leipzig in the opening game of this Europa League group, a spicy little number settled by an 89th minute winner.
Sounds very much like Brendan is going to go balls out, as it were, to combat their opponents. “You know when you come away from home in Europe, you’re playing against quality teams,” he said. “They’re going to have the ball, they’re going to move the ball. You’ve just got to make sure that tactically you’re closing space. But also when you have the ball you’re dangerous with it. Be really aggressive.”
Sounds like fighting talk. It’s on.
Kick-off: 17.55 BST
