First Half:

It was a return to the 3-5-2 formation for Celtic as Neil Lennon opted to change the shape as the Hoops face their toughest test of pre-season.

Scott Bain started in goal, whilst Bitton, Jullien and Ajer started in central defence. At wing backs were Frimpong and Taylor, whilst McGregor (captain), Ntcham and Christie started in midfield. Edouard and Elyounoussi started up front. The only notable ommission was Scott Brown, who isn’t named in the squad due to an alleged trapped nerve.

Icardi, Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria and a host of stars took to the field for PSG – a mark of the test that this game provides Neil Lennon’s team.

Having said that, it took PSG just 54 seconds to take the lead, which is somewhat of an abysmal start. Celtic’s defence were carved open as Thiago Silva exploited a huge gap in the middle of the backline to put Mbappe clean through. The sensational striker faced Bain up before closing his body at the last minute to clinically curl the ball past Bain into the corner at the near post.

It took Celtic until the 11th minute to make any inroads to the PSG half, putting together a few neat moves with Ntcham, Taylor and Elyounoussi combining well at times. On 15 minutes, Ryan Christie chipped an inventive corner to Ntcham at the edge of the box, whose powerful volley was deflected over the bar by a home side defender.

There was action at either end in the subsequent two minutes. Firstly, Nir Bitton set Odsonne Edouard on his way, but the Frenchman’s shot was blocked, when he probably should have passed to Elyounoussi. In response, PSG countered and a cross from Neymar was inches from the head of Mbappe.

20 minutes into the half, Jeremie Frimpong beat his man superbly and sent a dangerous low cross along the face of goal, unfortunately nobody was able to get on the end of it. Having started poorly, Celtic had been on top between 10 and 20 minutes. Certainly, both wing backs stood out as having plenty of the ball.

As the first half reached its midway stage, Neymar committed a series of fouls, including one customarily petulant kick at Bitton’s heels after the Brazilian was thwarted by the Celtic defence. Nevertheless, it was Neymar who struck as he always seems to against the Hoops. The ball was cut back from the right hand side and Neymar’s volley ironically deflected off Bitton to fortuitously wrong foot Bain and find its way into the back of the net after 25 minutes. The goal would have come as an annoyance to Neil Lennon as his team had been competing well against much superior opposition.

Ten minutes after Neymar’s strike, Mbappe had a good opportunity, which Bain saved well. Unphased, Celtic went on the attack within seconds. Frimpong won a free kick on the right hand side and Christie sent in a superb cross, which Jullien headed against the post. Immediately after that effort, another cross made it’s way into the PSG box. This time Elyounoussi nodded down to Edouard, who was foiled at the last moment.

The half time whistle blew with the scoreline PSG 2-0 Celtic. The Bhoys can be pleased with their efforts so far, having performed well and been slightly unlucky to be two behind. Aside of the wing backs getting plenty of the action, the stand out performer would be Olivier Ntcham, who has looked very composed in possession. Ntcham has retained the ball well, shown excellent skill and sprayed a couple of sublime passes. If he keeps this up then Lennon will have to think about starting him more frequently.

Second Half:

PSG made a number of changes ahead of the second half, but they still had some extraordinary talent on the pitch. Ander Herrera was one such quality substitute and it was he who fired a powerful shot at goal inside three minutes of the second half. The keeper should have kept it out but it wasn’t Bain’s finest moment as the effort found its way into the back of the net to put Celtic 3-0 down.

Buoyed by the goal, the home side began to dominate with two last ditch interceptions preventing them from going further ahead. In response, Lennon changed things up by taking swapping Bitton with James Forrest and adopting a 4-5-1 formation, with Elyounoussi moving out to the left hand side of midfield. Forrest nearly made an immediate impact when Edouard fed him on the wing and the Scotsman curled a low first time cross into the box, which almost enabled Christie to convert.

The change was in vein as Veratti collected the ball in space and chipped a delightful cross into Sarabia, who let the ball drop over his shoulder before thundering a volley into the top corner to make the score 4-0.

Patryk Klimala soon replaced Edouard, before the welcome return of Tom Rogic in the 72nd minute as the Australian replaced Ntcham. Celtic got an immediate boost, working the ball out to Forrest who cut in on his left and forced the keeper into a decent save after a strong left footed shot.

PSG responded again, almost making it five when Ajer played Choupo Moting onside and the striker missed a sitter after Draxler played a splendid pass into him. Celtic almost grabbed a consolation in the closing minutes as Forrest hit another effort that went inches past the post. However, the match finished PSG 4-0 Celtic.

There were not a multitude of positives to take from the game – Forrest looked bright, Christie was industrious and showed flashes of good play, whilst the first half saw the wing backs and Bitton impressing. The main winner was fitness as Celtic spent a large part of the game chasing the ball and a lot of players got 90 minutes under their belt.

We move on now, returning from France with more important matches to come in the future.