Tom Rogic’s Celtic have one foot in the next round of UEFA Champions League qualifying after a come-from-behind 3-1 first leg win over Alex Gersbach’s Rosenborg this morning.
Both Caltex Socceroos started on the bench for their respective sides at Celtic Park, with the hosts in the box seat to progress after a spirited fightback.
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The Norwegian’s stunned the home crowd when Birger Melling opened the scoring early on, before Odsonne Edouard levelled the scores before the break.
Olivier Ntcham’s sublime strike saw Celtic take the lead just seconds after the break, before Edouard gave the Hoops a buffer for the second leg with his second 15 minutes from time.
Brendon Rodgers’ side will now be confident of finishing the job as they take a healthy advantage to take into next week’s return game in Trondheim.
In his first appearance since returning after the FIFA World Cup™, Rogic came on for the last 13 minutes of the match, while Gersbach was introduced for the final 18 minutes for the visitors but was unable to help them halve the deficit.
“For me, it was a joy to watch the team this evening, and not just the good stuff, but dealing with the adversity in the game. It’s not always clean and pure and scoring five or six goals,” Rodgers said.
“You judge your team as well when they were down and they were absolutely fantastic in that this evening, and they showed a mentality to win the game well.”
Elsewhere, Caltex Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak made his first appearance of the pre-season for Aston Villa, in their friendly clash against Premier League outfit West Ham.
Jedinak played the last 30 minutes for the Villans, who went down 3-1 against the EPL outfit, with Andre Green scoring a late consolation for Steve Bruce’s side.
The Aussie midfielder, who has only just returned to training, should feature more in Villa’s final pre-season clash against Dynamo Dresden on Saturday.
Villa opens the Championship season the following weekend with a clash against Jackson Irvine’s Hull City.
And Aaron Mooy got another 45 minutes under his belt for Huddersfield, as they beat French Ligue1 heavyweights Lyon 3-1.
Mooy started for the first time this pre-season and was one of Town’s best before coach David Wagner made nine changes at the break.
The substitutes did the job as all the goals were scored in the second half, with Terence Kongolo and Laurent Depoitre (2) contributing to a 3-1 success after Maxwel Cornet had given the Champions League participants the lead just after the break.
It was another vital hitout for Mooy and the Terriers as they ramp up their preparations for the season opener against Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea on August 11.
