Celtic play Rosenborg in Trondheim tomorrow night and I fancy them to go and see the tie out.
But I have to say that 3-1 is a funny score when it comes to this kind of tie. I have been involved in this before – Basle put us out of the Champions League after beating us 2-0 in the second leg the year we ended up going all the way to the UEFA Cup final – and I think that Rosenborg will come at Celtic hammer and tongs in the opening stages of the game.
The one thing I will say is that I think Celtic will score. They hit the bar three times in the first leg and they really could have had more goals.
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I suspect that as the game goes on and Rosenborg leave more and more space as they look for openings, that Celtic should be able to exploit the gaps that they will leave in their wake.
The one thing I felt was notable in the first leg was the contribution of young Kristoffer Ajer. I felt that it would be a big night for him last week but he really showed up well against his fellow countrymen.
I thought he put in a fantastic shift and worked his socks off. It will be another big night for him again in Trondheim and he’ll look to come away from it having further enhanced his reputation on home soil.
With Jozo Simunovic out of this leg too then it means that it will probably be Jack Hendry and Ajer who are charged with keeping things tight at the back. I think Celtic showed enough in that first leg to suggest there are grounds for optimistic that they can come through it unscathed but I do think that they will still need to have their wits about them.
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