Odsonne Edouard, Christopher Jullien and Greg Taylor also on target for Neil Lennon's men
Wednesday 19 August 2020 07:12, UK
A Mohamed Elyounoussi double helped Celtic coast into the second qualifying round of the Champions League with a 6-0 win over KR Reykjavik.
Elyounoussi got the hosts off to the perfect start against their Icelandic visitors - whose entire country has a smaller population than Glasgow - by rounding goalkeeper Beitir Olafsson inside six minutes and slotting home.
Neil Lennon's side played at a high tempo from the off and found themselves two ahead when Hatem Abd Elhamed's cross was turned past his own keeper by Arnor Adalsteinsson (17) before Christopher Jullien secured a commanding half-time lead with a bullet header (31) from a corner.
After the break, Celtic never let up with their intensity and found a fourth within a minute of the restart. Elahmed's delivery was nodded in at the back post by Greg Taylor, before Odsonne Edouard - who had missed a number of first-half openings - got on the scoresheet following a sensational solo run (71).
There was still time for Elyounoussi, moments after being announced as man of the match, to add to his collection with a tap-in from Olivier Ntcham's pin-point ball in from the left, as Celtic cruised through to face either Ferencvaros or Djugarden, who meet on Wednesday.
Lennon named a stronger team than he might have done to face Icelandic minnows KR, but if Celtic's manager was determined to take the one-off tie seriously, his team followed suit.
Within three minutes, Edouard's free header did not provide Olafsson with any problems, but as many minutes later Elyounoussi calmed any nerves with a well-taken goal from Jullien's long ball, taking it past the goalkeeper and firing into an empty net.
One soon became two when Elhamed's cross, aimed low towards Edouard in the six-yard box, was turned into the bottom corner by Adalsteinsson before Jullien's powerful header - albeit while totally unmarked - made it three.
Edouard kept racking up the chances but somehow ended the half goalless. From another Elhamed cross, Christie's shot struck Olafsson in the face, leaving the goalkeeper on the floor.
But from the rebound, the French forward only found the body of Kennie Chopart on the line as KR survived, and even forced a full-length save out of Vasilis Barkas moments before half-time when Kristjan Finnbogason caught the Celtic defence cold on the break.
The job was already as good as done, but Celtic showed no let-up after half-time. Within a minute, Taylor had nodded in a fourth from close-range with Elhamed continuing to provide impressive deliveries from the right flank.
With new arrival Albian Ajeti waiting, Edouard finally got himself on the scoresheet with 19 minutes to go, beating several challenges before setting himself clear with a lovely heel touch, allowing him time to slot under Olafsson with his final contribution of the night.
In the closing moments, Elyounoussi doubled his tally for the night with a simple finish from Ntcham's excellent low delivery, as Lennon's side progressed with a flourish on the back of a nine-day break owing to their enforced postponements.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon: "It was a good performance and I'm delighted with the result, the amount of goals we scored and to get up and get that match rhythm again, it'll do the players the world of good.
"It was a lovely opening goal, I thought Mo [Elyounoussi] had a really good game and got stronger as the game went on, but all-round it was a really good team performance.
"Sometimes it can be difficult to negotiate, but the players will definitely benefit from the work which has gone on tonight - and now we look forward to a big couple of weeks.
"We needed that with the 10-day break, and the stop-start start to this season."
Celtic travel to Dundee United on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Football from 5pm; Kick-off at 5.30pm.
