Celtic come from behind to beat Sarajevo in Champions League opener

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Celtic have put one foot into the next round of Champions League qualifying after a 3-1 win against Sarajevo in Bosnia.

The Scottish treble winners had to come from behind after Mirko Oremus opened the scoring but a stunner from Mikey Johnston and goals from Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair gave Celtic a two-goal lead ahead of the second leg.

Celtic could have gone a goal down early when Anel Hebibovic found space down the middle but Scott Bain came out to the edge of his penalty area to make the block.

Sarajevo kept up their counter-attacking style and were awarded on the half-hour mark when a corner was not dealt with and Oremus finished from close range.

It took just six minutes for the Bhoys to reply, though, and Johnston did so in some style, turning a defender before hammering home from 22 yards.

James Forrest should have done better before half time but he failed to control a pass from Edouard and ended up striking over.

Edouard, who struggled in the first half, gave Celtic the lead five minutes after the restart. Scott Brown won the ball to start a quick Celtic attack and Forrest played in Edouard to stroke the ball past Vladan Kovacevic.

With five minutes remaining, Sinclair strengthened Celtic’s grip on the tie with a third goal. Substitute Lewis Morgan drove down the right before finding Sinclair in the six-yard box to flick the ball home with his heel.

The teams will meet again in Glasgow next Wednesday.

Cover Photo: Glasgow Celtic [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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