ROBBIE KEANE’S FERENCVAROS are one of Celtic’s possible opponents in the next phase of the Europa League after the Hungarian champions dropped into the play-off round following a 4-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The Premier League club will also play Panathinaikos or Fenerbahce after ending their league phase with a comfortable win at the City Ground.
Igor Jesus’ brace after Bence Otvos’ early own goal and James McAtee’s late penalty made it an easy evening for Forest.
Defeat at Braga last week ensured Sean Dyche’s side had next to no chance of securing automatic qualification to the knockout round, but victory here ensured they get home advantage in the second leg of next month’s play-off tie.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis could be seen rubbing his hands at the prospect of playing the Greek side, who are bitter rivals of his other club Olympiakos, while a trip to Istanbul seems less enticing.
Their exact opponents will be decided on Friday but they are guaranteed two more fixtures in an already packed schedule.
Keane’s return to England did not go as he would have wanted as his side also go into the play-offs after they slipped out of the top eight.
The Dubliner, who has been heavily linked with becoming the next Tottenham manager, made a pre-match vow that his side would attack their hosts in a bid to seal automatic progress, and he was true to his word as they almost took the lead in the sixth minute.
Jonathan Levi whipped in a dangerous cross from a short corner which was met by Kristoffer Zachariassen but his header crashed on to the post.
Robbie Keane (right) with Sean Dyche. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Forest threatened soon after and went in front in the 17th minute when Ryan Yates’ cross was turned into his own net by Otvos, and four minutes later the lead was doubled when Jesus guided a shot into the bottom corner from outside the box.
Those two goals knocked Ferencvaros out of their stride but they came close to pulling one back just before half-time.
It was from another Zachariassen header, which this time goalkeeper Matz Sels tipped over the crossbar, with the Belgian then flapping at the corner.
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Forest laid siege on their visitors’ goal at the start of the second half as they looked for more goals.
Yates had a drilled effort saved by Grof, Jesus flashed a header wide and Nicolas Dominguez’s header hit the post.
They finally added a third in the 55th minute as Jesus grabbed his second of the evening, latching on to Ibrahim Sangare’s ball over the top and powering a fine finish into the bottom corner.
The visitors continued to threaten and rattled the woodwork again as Bamidele Yusuf powered a header into the crossbar. Forest rounded it off at the death when McAtee stroked home a penalty after the hapless Otvos tripped Ndoye.
For Celtic, as well as Ferencvaros, Stuttgart are their other possible opponents after beating Dutch side FC Utrecht 4-2 in their final league stage match at Celtic Park.
An early strike from Benjamin Nygren, an own goal from Nick Viergever and an Arne Engels penalty looked to have Celtic coasting, only for Utrecht to narrow the deficit thanks to efforts from Dani de Wit and Adrian Blake.
A fourth goal, though, from Auston Trusty secured Celtic’s safe passage through to Friday’s draw to determine a two-legged tie to be played on 19 and 26 February.
Celtic knew beforehand they would likely need a victory to progress against a Utrecht side already eliminated from the competition and duly got the job done, albeit with that mid-game wobble.
Martin O’Neill made two enforced changes from the side that drew 2-2 with Hearts at Tynecastle. Out went their two recent loan signings, Tomas Cvancara and Julian Araujo, both ineligible, replaced by Sebastian Tounekti and Colby Donovan.
Celtic's Benjamin Nygren (right) celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game with team-mate Kieran Tierney. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Former Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas started for a Utrecht side who had taken just one point from their previous seven group stage matches before arriving in Glasgow.
Barkas was soon picking the ball out of his net as Celtic forged into the lead after just six minutes.
Donovan worked a short corner with Callum McGregor before getting the return pass and then picking out Kieran Tierney. The Scotland defender drove to the line before crossing for Nygren to tap in for a simple goal.
Celtic doubled their lead in the 10th minute thanks largely to a mistake from Barkas, whose attempted pass to Mike van der Hoorn was easily picked off by Nygren.
The Swede’s cross was deflected into his own net by the unfortunate Viergever to leave Celtic firmly in control of the contest.
It was one-way traffic at this point and Barkas partially redeemed himself by tipping a Nygren free-kick around a post for a corner, but a third Celtic goal was not far away.
Finnish referee Mohammad Al-Emara was called to the pitchside monitor by the VAR to look at a potential penalty and duly awarded Celtic the spot-kick for a handball by De Wit.
Liam Scales initially looked he might take it before handing over the ball to Engels, who clinically despatched his effort beyond Barkas to give Celtic a 3-0 lead and seemingly all but settle things after 19 minutes.
The game entered a lull after that until Utrecht gave themselves a lifeline when De Wit shot low past Kasper Schmeichel in the final minute of the first half.
The goalkeeper then made a smart save to keep out Niklas Vesterlund’s header as the visitors threatened a second.
That goal arrived after 62 minutes when Blake’s long-range effort beat Schmeichel to bring Utrecht back into the match at 3-2.
Celtic were rocking, but a fourth goal just minutes later settled any rising nerves when Trusty rose to glance Engel’s corner beyond Barkas.
Elsewhere, nineteen-year-old substitute Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba scored a late winner as Aston Villa came from two goals down to beat RB Salzburg 3-2 and finish in the Europa League top two amid further injury problems for boss Unai Emery.
Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa scores their first goal. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Villa, already assured of a place in the last 16, picked up their seventh win from eight games in the group phase the hard way and the success was marred by the loss of Ollie Watkins to a first-half injury to add to a growing list of fitness concerns.
Salzburg had no other option but to go in search of the three points and got their reward for a fantastic first-half display when Karim Konate took advantage of Tyrone Mings’ error.
Watkins was forced off with what looked to be a hamstring injury and the Austrian league leaders inflicted further damage when Moussa Yeo converted from close range shortly after half-time.
Morgan Rogers stepped off the bench to halve the deficit and Mings atoned for his earlier error when he nodded the hosts level before Jimoh-Aloba completed the comeback by netting his first senior goal in the 87th minute.
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Robbie Keane's 4-0 defeat to Forest sets up possible Celtic clash
ROBBIE KEANE’S FERENCVAROS are one of Celtic’s possible opponents in the next phase of the Europa League after the Hungarian champions dropped into the play-off round following a 4-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The Premier League club will also play Panathinaikos or Fenerbahce after ending their league phase with a comfortable win at the City Ground.
Igor Jesus’ brace after Bence Otvos’ early own goal and James McAtee’s late penalty made it an easy evening for Forest.
Defeat at Braga last week ensured Sean Dyche’s side had next to no chance of securing automatic qualification to the knockout round, but victory here ensured they get home advantage in the second leg of next month’s play-off tie.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis could be seen rubbing his hands at the prospect of playing the Greek side, who are bitter rivals of his other club Olympiakos, while a trip to Istanbul seems less enticing.
Their exact opponents will be decided on Friday but they are guaranteed two more fixtures in an already packed schedule.
Keane’s return to England did not go as he would have wanted as his side also go into the play-offs after they slipped out of the top eight.
The Dubliner, who has been heavily linked with becoming the next Tottenham manager, made a pre-match vow that his side would attack their hosts in a bid to seal automatic progress, and he was true to his word as they almost took the lead in the sixth minute.
Jonathan Levi whipped in a dangerous cross from a short corner which was met by Kristoffer Zachariassen but his header crashed on to the post.
Forest threatened soon after and went in front in the 17th minute when Ryan Yates’ cross was turned into his own net by Otvos, and four minutes later the lead was doubled when Jesus guided a shot into the bottom corner from outside the box.
Those two goals knocked Ferencvaros out of their stride but they came close to pulling one back just before half-time.
It was from another Zachariassen header, which this time goalkeeper Matz Sels tipped over the crossbar, with the Belgian then flapping at the corner.
Forest laid siege on their visitors’ goal at the start of the second half as they looked for more goals.
Yates had a drilled effort saved by Grof, Jesus flashed a header wide and Nicolas Dominguez’s header hit the post.
They finally added a third in the 55th minute as Jesus grabbed his second of the evening, latching on to Ibrahim Sangare’s ball over the top and powering a fine finish into the bottom corner.
The visitors continued to threaten and rattled the woodwork again as Bamidele Yusuf powered a header into the crossbar. Forest rounded it off at the death when McAtee stroked home a penalty after the hapless Otvos tripped Ndoye.
For Celtic, as well as Ferencvaros, Stuttgart are their other possible opponents after beating Dutch side FC Utrecht 4-2 in their final league stage match at Celtic Park.
An early strike from Benjamin Nygren, an own goal from Nick Viergever and an Arne Engels penalty looked to have Celtic coasting, only for Utrecht to narrow the deficit thanks to efforts from Dani de Wit and Adrian Blake.
A fourth goal, though, from Auston Trusty secured Celtic’s safe passage through to Friday’s draw to determine a two-legged tie to be played on 19 and 26 February.
Celtic knew beforehand they would likely need a victory to progress against a Utrecht side already eliminated from the competition and duly got the job done, albeit with that mid-game wobble.
Martin O’Neill made two enforced changes from the side that drew 2-2 with Hearts at Tynecastle. Out went their two recent loan signings, Tomas Cvancara and Julian Araujo, both ineligible, replaced by Sebastian Tounekti and Colby Donovan.
Former Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas started for a Utrecht side who had taken just one point from their previous seven group stage matches before arriving in Glasgow.
Barkas was soon picking the ball out of his net as Celtic forged into the lead after just six minutes.
Donovan worked a short corner with Callum McGregor before getting the return pass and then picking out Kieran Tierney. The Scotland defender drove to the line before crossing for Nygren to tap in for a simple goal.
Celtic doubled their lead in the 10th minute thanks largely to a mistake from Barkas, whose attempted pass to Mike van der Hoorn was easily picked off by Nygren.
The Swede’s cross was deflected into his own net by the unfortunate Viergever to leave Celtic firmly in control of the contest.
It was one-way traffic at this point and Barkas partially redeemed himself by tipping a Nygren free-kick around a post for a corner, but a third Celtic goal was not far away.
Finnish referee Mohammad Al-Emara was called to the pitchside monitor by the VAR to look at a potential penalty and duly awarded Celtic the spot-kick for a handball by De Wit.
Liam Scales initially looked he might take it before handing over the ball to Engels, who clinically despatched his effort beyond Barkas to give Celtic a 3-0 lead and seemingly all but settle things after 19 minutes.
The game entered a lull after that until Utrecht gave themselves a lifeline when De Wit shot low past Kasper Schmeichel in the final minute of the first half.
The goalkeeper then made a smart save to keep out Niklas Vesterlund’s header as the visitors threatened a second.
That goal arrived after 62 minutes when Blake’s long-range effort beat Schmeichel to bring Utrecht back into the match at 3-2.
Celtic were rocking, but a fourth goal just minutes later settled any rising nerves when Trusty rose to glance Engel’s corner beyond Barkas.
Elsewhere, nineteen-year-old substitute Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba scored a late winner as Aston Villa came from two goals down to beat RB Salzburg 3-2 and finish in the Europa League top two amid further injury problems for boss Unai Emery.
Villa, already assured of a place in the last 16, picked up their seventh win from eight games in the group phase the hard way and the success was marred by the loss of Ollie Watkins to a first-half injury to add to a growing list of fitness concerns.
Salzburg had no other option but to go in search of the three points and got their reward for a fantastic first-half display when Karim Konate took advantage of Tyrone Mings’ error.
Watkins was forced off with what looked to be a hamstring injury and the Austrian league leaders inflicted further damage when Moussa Yeo converted from close range shortly after half-time.
Morgan Rogers stepped off the bench to halve the deficit and Mings atoned for his earlier error when he nodded the hosts level before Jimoh-Aloba completed the comeback by netting his first senior goal in the 87th minute.
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Europa League Robbie Keane Aston Villa Celtic Wrap