Celtic kicked off their Champions League campaign in convincing style as they swept SK Slovan aside with a 5-1 win at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
The Hoops led 1-0 at the half-time interval, thanks to a powerful header from Liam Scales, before goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda, and Adam Idah wrapped up the three points in the second half.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have now won all seven of their matches in all competitions, conceding just two goals, in the 2024/25 campaign so far.
Scales and Engels were two of the best performers on the night for Celtic with their contributions in and out of possession throughout the 90 minutes.
Arne Engels and Liam Scales' performances in numbers
Firstly, the central defender enjoyed a fantastic evening at Paradise and opened the scoring with a superb header from Engels’ brilliant delivery from a corner.
The Irish colossus also won seven of his nine duels on the floor and four of his six aerial contests, whilst making a whopping seven tackles and three clearances.
Engels, meanwhile, scored from the spot for the second game running, along with his assist for the opener, and created two ‘big chances’ for his teammates in total.
The 21-year-old starlet also won nine of his 12 ground duels, making six tackles in total, which shows that he was able to offer quality at both ends of the pitch for the Hoops.
They were the stars of the show for Rodgers and Celtic on Wednesday night and one of the unsung heroes, with a terrific display down the right, was Alistair Johnston.
Alistair Johnston's performance in numbers
The Canada international played 77 minutes at right-back and displayed great quality, in and out of possession, and tenacity throughout his time on the pitch.
Johnston, who landed a player rating of 8/10 from The Herald’s Martin McMillan, did not record a goal or an assist to contribute to the 5-1 win, but did indirectly assist one of the goals.
The combative defender showcased his desire to compete by nipping in ahead of the defender in the box to win a penalty, which Engels then converted, in the second half.
Sofascore rating
8.2
Ground duels won
3/4
Aerial duels won
3/3
Key passes
2
Big chances created
1
As you can see in the table above, Johnston won 86% of his duels throughout the game, winning three of his four ground duels and all three of his aerial battles.
This shows that the Slovan players found it incredibly difficult to get the better of the full-back, which helped him to control the right side of the pitch.
He also created two chances and one ‘big chance’ and this suggests that the defender was unfortunate to end the game without an assist, as his teammates did not make the most of his creativity.
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Overall, it was an outstanding performance from the MLS star and he was an unsung hero for Rodgers, as the goalscorers took the spotlight ahead of him.
