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.
