Glasgow Celtic's Nine New Players Undo Utrecht in Europa Cup

Celtic Win In Europa at Last

Celtic served up their best performance of the season so far as they defeated Utrecht 2-0 in the first leg of their Europa League play-off. 

First half goals from Efrain Juarez and Georgios Samaras gave the Hoops a healthy lead and although they could not add to that, the clean sheet they preserved will be equally important when they travel for the second leg next week.

Utrecht showed their ability from the start, and adopted an adventurous formation with three men committed forward. It was Celtic who created the first clear cut chance though, when Scott Brown got on the end of a Marc-Antoine Fortune cross but saw his effort go narrowly wide. 

In an end-to-end opening spell, Jan Wuytens hit a swerving volley that flashed wide of Lukasz Zaluska’s goal and Utrecht had another chance when Jacob Mulenga went close with a header from six yards. The Dutch side were made to rue missed opportunities after 19 minutes though, when Celtic took the lead.

A Beram Kayal pass was cleverly dummied by Samaras and the ball sailed through to Juarez. The Mexican met it under pressure but guided the ball over keeper Michel Vorm and into the net. In the 33rd minute Celtic doubled their lead. Cha Du-Ri, a constant attacking presence on the right, sent over an inviting cross for Samaras at the back post. The Greek striker chested the ball past his marker and slammed the ball home from a narrow angle.

Celtic had a significant lead but Utrecht were not deterred from their attacking game and the remainder of the first half continued to flow from end to end, though Celtic’s defence were mostly able to keep the danger to wide areas. There was no further score before the break and in the second half, no real change in approach from either side.

Celtic looked increasingly solid as the match went on. A defence who had never played before grew as the game went on and they were ably assisted by Juarez, Kayal and Brown, whose movement, tackling and distribution helped turn Utrecht onto their back foot repeatedly.

However, the goals that the performance promised did not come. Kayal went off with a groin strain and was replaced by James Forrest, who created chances with crosses from the left that found no takers in the box. Juarez volleyed wide after a fine spell of possession that saw Celtic work the ball around the park probing for openings and Fortune and Cha both delivered tempting crosses from the right.

Utrecht had a go and went searching for an away goal but tired visibly. Dries Mertens tried increasingly ambitious shots and runs but Celtic held firm and protected a lead that means they would have to lose by at least three goals to miss out on the group stage.