Europa League Group Stages
Sparta Prague 4 (Hancko 26, Julis 38, Julis 80, Plavsic 86)
Celtic 1 (Edouard 15)
Edouard was put through with a lovely ball from Elyounoussi and after someone delighted dribbling Edouard put Celtic in the lead.
Sparta equalised from a corner when Jullien's header went straight up in the air in the box and Brown was push aside. With McGregor playing three players onside Hancko equalisde. Sparta then took the lead when McGregor couldn't stop a cross and actually jumped over the ball and the ball then ran across both Ajer and Jullien before Julis scored. For Sparta's third after a punt up the park from the Sparta defence Elhamed headed into knowhere in the middle of the park, then the ball was played out to the player Elhamed was marking, he
Celtic had an xG of 0.84 while Sparta Prague had an xG of 3.33 which is the highest of any opponents this year.
Celtic had 8 shots with 4 being on target. Possession was 52% with 628 touches. Celtic had 6 corners and touches in the box were 14. Total Passes were 430 with a Passing accuracy of 77%. Celtic had 28 crosses. Possession in the final third was 32% and Celtic passes in the final third were 181.
Edouard was rated Celtic's best player due to his stats and he had 1 goal, 3 shots on target, 31 touches, 71% pass rate, 1 successful dribble out of 1 attempted and 3 touches in the box.
Frimpong and Bitton out for Elhamed and Jullien (who was back from injury). Forrest was still unavailable due to injury. Turnbull was out with COVID related reason. Ntcham came in for Rogic and Edouard came in for Ajeti.
Celtic lined up with;
- Bain
- Elhamed, Jullien, Ajer, Laxalt
- Brown and McGregor
- Christie, Ntcham and Elyounoussi
- Edouard
Rogic and Klimala came on as subs. Duffy was an unused sub and this was the first time he hadn't featured in a game since joining the club. Frimpong was unused sub and first time not involved in 19 games and Ajeti was not involved and the first time not involved in 9 since coming back from injury. Other than the games out for injury this is the first time Ajeti hasn't been used.
Key notes - 8 shots was 2nd lowest of the season (after Rangers at home) and we had 70 long balls (which was 2nd most of the season) and up from 38 at the weekend. Our NP xG was only the 2nd time this year we were below 1 and Sparta's NP xG was the most of any opponent this year.
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