On This Day in 2016, Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic lined up against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League play-off at Celtic Park. A packed Paradise roared the Celts on as they looked to book a place in the group stages for the first tie since 2013.
Celtic started strongly but Scott Brown was spurned by an excellent save from David Goresh after just two minutes. However, the Celts had their reward after just 9 minutes. Scott Sinclair rushed onto a pass only to be clattered by the Be’er Sheva goalie. Tom Rogic followed up and calmly netted to send the support wild. For all the pressure, Celtic could not find a second as the game ticked towards halftime. James Forrest put a tempting cross into the box for Leigh Griffiths to header the ball into the corner.
The striker had a second through an excellent freekick just seconds before the referee blew the whistle for HT. The goal gave Celtic a 3-0 lead at halftime and surely they would be looking at building upon this into the second half.
However, within the space of two minutes, Be’er Sheva were back in the game with two goals as Craig Gordon was beaten at his near post by strikes from Hoban and Nwakaeme. With the away goals rule, Celtic were looking ropey each time the Israelis came forward. Although, a Griffiths corner was met by Dembele to restore the two-goal cushion before captain Scott Brown came up with a goal that proved to be extremely valuable. Brown scuffed his first shot before hammering a half volley into the net to give Celtic a 5-2 lead to take into the second leg.
