Brendan Rodgers content as 10-man Celtic cruise past Alashkert

Ten-man Celtic cruised into the Champions League second qualifying round as expected with a 3-0 win over Alashkert at Parkhead.

Brendan Rodgers content as 10-man Celtic cruise past Alashkert

Ten-man Celtic cruised into the Champions League second qualifying round as expected with a 3-0 win over Alashkert at Parkhead.

The Hoops’ 3-0 win in Armenia last week made the return game something of a formality and a first-half double from striker Moussa Dembele — the second a penalty — and a strike from James Forrest, made their lead unassailable.

Celtic will play Norwegian champions Rosenborg in the next round.

“I’m really proud of the team,” said manager Brendan Rodgers.

“We had the advantage coming into the game and we strengthened that, but it’s still a challenge to play that long with 10 men and the players coped with that very well.”

In between the first two goals, defender Jozo Simunovic was shown a straight red card by referee Haratiu Fesnic for a high challenge on Jefferson Reis.

But the home side remained dominant until the final whistle to go through 6-0 on aggregate and set up a meeting with Rosenborg in the next round, with the first game at Celtic Park next week.

Rodgers started the same side which began in Armenia and unsurprisingly they took the lead in the seventh minute due the tenacity of Dembele. He refused to buckle under a couple of tackles before finding the corner of the net with a shot from 12 yards.

There was some anger among the Parkhead fans, however, four minutes later, when a tackle on Reis by Simunovic close to the halfway line was deemed to warrant a red card by Romanian official Fesnic.

In the 18th minute Celtic were awarded what looked like a soft penalty when midfielder Artak Grigoryan tackled Odsonne Edouard but when the fuss died down Dembele slotted home the penalty.

Craig Gordon did well to push away a powerful drive from skipper Artak Grigoryan.

Celtic showed their clinical side again in the 35th minute when Edouard played in Forrest, who drilled the ball low past Alashkert keeper Ognjen Cancarevic from 16 yards.

CELTIC: Gordon, Jack Hendry, Ajer, Simunovic, Forrest (Johnston 76), Brown, Tierney, Ntcham, McGregor, Dembele (Christie 66), Edouard (Sinclair 64).

Subs Not Used: Bain, Allan, Ralston, Eboue.

ALASHKERT FC: Cancarevic, Dashyan, Andranik Voskanyan, Praznovsky, Daghbashyan, Grigoryan, Sekulic (Simonyan 63), Arthur Yedigaryan, Reis De Jesus (Romero 82), Nenadovic (Manasyan 46), Artak Yedigaryan.

Subs Not Used: Avagyan, Zeljkovic, Stojkovic, Antonic.

Ref: Horatiu Fesnic (Romania).

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