Scottish champions Celtic closed in on a place in the Champions League with a comprehensive 3-0 win over LASK Linz in the first leg of their qualifying play-off at Parkhead on Wednesday.
Colombian striker Camilo Duran struck in each half after an opener from Benjamin Nygren to take a dominant lead into next Tuesday’s second leg in Linz, with the winners going through to the group stages of the Champions League.
“It was a great result for us tonight, but there is a long way to go,” said Celtic manager Martin O’Neill.
The Austrian champions made a brisk start and Moses Usor had the ball in the back of the net in the first minute only to have it ruled out for offside.
Celtic got into the game and took the lead in the 26th minute when Nygren collected the ball on the edge of the box, the Swede curling into the top corner.
Twelve minutes later, Duran, a summer signing from Qarabag, doubled the lead, firing in a fierce volley from the edge of the area that flew past Lukas Jungwirth in the LASK goal.
The third arrived after 67 minutes when Duran played a smart one-two with Nygren before the Colombian slotted in his second of the night.
” a brilliant player. We spotted him way back some time ago and tried to get him earlier than we did,” said O’Neill.
“I’m not saying he was a world-class player, but that was a world-class performance.”
Elsewhere, Bodo/Glimt, who reached the last 16 last season with famous wins over Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan, also took a big step towards the group stages with a 3-1 win at Dutch side Nijmegen.
Hapoel Be’er Sheva took a 2-1 lead at home against Sabah Baku while Slovan Bratislava were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Celje.
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CELTIC PLC
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