Celtic survived a scare in Kazakhstan to qualify for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the second season on the trot.
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Brendan Rodgers’ side beat FC Astana 5-0 in the first leg of their playoff last week at Celtic Park but the trip to Kazakhstan proved much trickier with Astana leading 4-1 late in the game which had pulled the score back to 6-4 on aggregate.
However, Scott Sinclair had scored a priceless away goal to make it 1-1 at half time and despite a late flurry of goals for the hosts Olivier Ntcham scored a deflected effort and Leigh Griffiths wrapped things up late on as Celtic lost 4-3 on the night but went through 8-4 on aggregate.
Last season the Scottish champions went out in the UCL group stage after being drawn with Manchester City, Barcelona and Borussia Monchengladbach and will be hoping for a kinder draw this time around.
FULL-TIME: @fca_kz 4-3 #CelticFC
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 22, 2017
Never in doubt! 😅 The Bhoys are #UCL Group Stage bound for the second consecutive season! 👏 #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/WxH9WRJn5d
RESULT: Astana 4-3 Celtic (agg: 4-8) @celticfc reach the group stage after the highest-scoring aggregate match in #UCL play-off history! 👏 pic.twitter.com/cNLlusd3vp
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 22, 2017
