On This Day in 2017, Celtic beat Astana 5-0 in the Champions League play-off at Celtic Park. Brendan Rodgers side, who won an Invincible Treble the season before, were looking to make it two Champions League group stages appearances in a row.
The Celts came out to attack but they had to wait until the 32nd minute for Tom Rogic to drive into the box, beating defenders and then firing a shot into the net via the deflection of Postnikov.
The defender had a chance minutes later to header the visitors level but missed the target from a corner. Celtic seized the initiative through Scott Sinclair, who scored the second of the evening before half time. It was the Englishman that made it 3-0 after a cute finish around the hour mark after Tom Rogic took a sore one by winning the flick on.
James Forrest scored from a tight angle to make it 4-0 and Leigh Griffiths (via a deflection) made it 5-0 as the clock ran down.
It was an impressive performance by the Celts and they would take an enormous lead to Kazakhstan the following week, where barring a complete, embarrassing collapse, they would seal their place in the lucrative group stages.
Celtic: Gordon; Lustig, Simunovic, Bitton, Tierney; Ntcham, Brown, Sinclair, Rogic, Forrest; Griffiths. Subs used: Armstrong and McGregor.
Celtic will once again rub shoulders with Europe’s elite in the Group Stages after Ange Postecoglou lead his team to the title last year.
