Celtic seal playoff spot after late own goal spares blushes against Young Boys
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Fortune favours the brave. With five minutes of this game to play Celtic were in precisely the position they had not wanted to be in, glancing anxiously at other Champions League scorelines and potentially heading to Villa Park needing some reward to continue involvement in the competition. An own goal altered the scene here entirely. If that winner was freakish, nobody could reasonably deny the hosts deserved it. Even Daizen Maeda’s subsequent red card could not halt wild celebration.
![[Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi scores a goal against Young Boys that was later disallowed for offside.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/659313e308a734540d441d0550b2891aa24f7e6f/54_33_2212_1327/master/2212.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Brendan Rodgers returned to Celtic with a stated aim of making the Champions League knockout stage. He can tick that one off and, impressively, with a game to spare. Celtic will miss Maeda’s relentlessness against Aston Villa but the outcome for the Scottish champions next Wednesday is basically irrelevant. Celtic are worthy of their further opportunity against the elite of Europe, which Rodgers is entitled to relish.
![[Arne Engels reacts after his penalty is saved.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/18ceba77826b7f1f9e61fd8b5495bad1b07e4f98/0_86_4353_2716/master/4353.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“To have 12 points at this stage absolutely fantastic,” Rodgers said. “The idea is hopefully to be able to sustain this at this level. We have shown really good consistency.”. Young Boys arrived in Glasgow with such dismal European form that Celtic’s only apparent danger was complacency. The Swiss side had slipped to six defeats out of six. Things have not been much better on the home front; Young Boys are ninth in their domestic league. This all adds up to a third manager in the one season.
Kyogo Furuhashi had the ball in the Young Boys net inside 10 minutes, only to be flagged offside. Nicolas Kuhn did legally breach the Young Boys back line but dallied when the obvious option was to shoot. The Swiss opened the game with notable physicality but displayed a defensive fragility Celtic looked well equipped to exploit.
