Celtic 3-0 LASK: Celtic cruise past LASK to put one foot in Champions League group stage | OneFootball

Celtic took a positive step in their quest to reach the group stage of the Champions League with a 3-0 first-leg victory over Austrian champions LASK Linz.

LASK started brightly and nearly took the lead on a couple of occasions, but it was Celtic who found themselves two-up at the break, thanks to wonder strikes from Benjamin Nygren and Camilo Durán.

Durán added another in the second half as the Scottish champions ran out convincing winners, and will take a three-goal lead to Austria on Tuesday night.

As it happened

With just 30 seconds on the clock, LASK thought they had got off to a dream start. Moses Usor was played in down the left and fired an outrageous strike on the half-volley into the top corner, but was adjudged to be just offside.

And only a minute later, the Austrian champions were causing problems again and should really have taken the lead. Samuel Adeniran found himself one-on-one with Vilijami Sinisalo, but pulled his finish wide as the goal was gaping, as Celtic survived two very early scares.

Celtic responded well and Camilo Durán had a couple of decent early sightings of goal, but the Colombian wasn’t able to make the most of either of them.

Both sides continued to attack and have chances with the game very end-to-end. LASK were able to break on Celtic with real pace but were just unable to find the quality in the final third that would see an opening goal. At the other end, Kasper Høgh had a few openings of his own. The best of these came after a slick Celtic move, but the Dane was denied by a crucial last ditch tackle.

With 25 minutes on the clock, Parkhead erupted as Benjamin Nygren gave his side the lead. The ball fell to the Swedish midfielder at the edge of the box, and he unleashed a wonderful half-volley into the top corner giving Celtic the lead they were desperate for.

Again, LASK had the ball in the net as Adeniran headed home from close-range. But again, it was disallowed for an offside, with this one being slightly more obvious than the first, but it was another warning for Celtic.

Celtic responded brilliantly by adding a second quickly after, and once again, it was a wonderful strike, this time from Durán. The ball broke to the edge of the box, and the Colombian, much like Nygren minutes before, fired an incredible left-footed volley into the top-right corner, doubling the home side’s lead.

The second half started slowly, with chances few and far between. The closest either side came in the opening period of the second half was through Calum McGregor’s effort from outside the box, which took a deflection before coming back off the post.

LASK very nearly got one back soon after, with Usor showing great composure in the box to skip away from Auston Trusty, but his low strike was well kept out by Sinisalo in the Celtic goal.

With LASK missing big opportunities, Celtic punished them with yet another clinical effort. The hosts worked the ball well with Nygren laying the ball off to Durán, who fired another brilliant left-footed strike into the top corner as the Scottish champions led by three.

While LASK continued to push to try to get a goal back in the tie, Celtic stood up to the task and saw the game out well, limiting the Austrians’s to few very few sights of goal late on.

The sides will meet again for the second-leg next Tuesday, with Celtic taking a three-goal lead to Linz.