CELTIC’S Star Man James Forrest couldn’t quite find the words to describe how he was feeling late last night in Rome. He’d scored the vital equaliser on 38 minutes to turn the tide in Celtic’s favour and watched on from the sidelines, after being substituted late in the game for Moritz Bauer, as Odsonne Edouard sent the other substitute and fellow Frenchman Olivier Ntcham through in the final few seconds to dink Celtic into the last 32 of the Europa League and give the club its first ever win on Italian soil.
“I can’t really sum up how I feel after that,” Jamesy said after the 2-1 win in Rome, as reported by the official Celtic site. “It’s a great night and great result, it has to be up there with the best I’ve ever had. The players, and everyone on the bench, you saw their reactions at the end, everyone put in such a good shift from start to finish. We really deserved it with all the effort we put in.
James Forrest once again doing the business in Europe, he's a great asset to Celtic and seems content to spend his whole career at the club. Time that lad had a son g in his honour 🙂 pic.twitter.com/FJ39R1GToR
— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog09) November 8, 2019
“Maybe the first 10-15 minutes, we didn’t do ourselves justice – but after that, we really showed that we can play football at this level. We worked really hard, and while big Fraser kept us in the game at times, I still felt we could have scored more. It’s such a great night, it’s unbelievable and it’s a great feeling,” Jamesy said.
The Star Man recognises the significance of his own contribution to the scoring last night with a wonderfully composed strike of a very top footballer.
“It was important to get us back on to level terms. We had a few chances before the goal, but scoring made sure we went into the break full of belief. We also carried that into the second half, but as the match wore on, it looked like we were going to draw 1-1.
“And then it was a great piece of skill from Olly right at the death. There were incredible scenes at the end.”
The scenes among the support, the players on the park, the players on the bench running to join in the celebrations and the huddle among the coaching staff on the touchline, even the delight on the faces of the Celtic Board of Directors in the posh seats, will live long in the memory for those fortunate enough to have been there and even those watching on television and hearing Chris Sutton’s reaction to the Ntcham winner.
We’ve had some great away results in Europe this decade, but this is undeniably the greatest away performance and result by Celtic.
Thank you Celtic, and Neil Lennon. 🍀🍀🍀🍀 pic.twitter.com/KaxpeS1HEx
— JoeBloggsCity (@joebloggscity) November 8, 2019
And here are a couple of alternative views of that sensational goal…
Mussolini had some view of Oli Ntchams 95th minute winner🙃🙃 pic.twitter.com/QWqigJhAbh
— Muiry (@MuiryCeltic) November 7, 2019
Pal just sent me that pic.twitter.com/yZqEfab6il
— Adam Gill (@Adamgill1888) November 7, 2019
“When you see the reaction from the staff and players, that shows you the team-spirit in this side. That’s what you need when you get big results. To be four games into the group, we couldn’t have imagined it going much better than what it has done.
“When the group was drawn, the three teams we drew, we knew every game was going to be hard. I don’t think anyone in the changing room thought we would have qualified so soon, never mind having played with the level of performances that we have. That’s credit to the staff and players, and everyone involved at the club.
“It was great that the boys could share the moment with the fans at the end of the game. Even before the game, when you go out for the warm up and see all the Celtic fans there, that gives us a huge boost. For 90 minutes, you knew they were there and that makes a difference.
“Lazio have gone on and had really good results since we won in Glasgow, but we know that if we keep working on our own game, keep playing our own game, we’re capable of winning games like this. Winning three points here is a great moment for us.”
Here are two videos that you really must watch today…
Two Unmissable Videos – ‘So that was the Stadio Olimpico’ and ‘the mrs loves filming me watching games’ @CelticStarMag https://t.co/MVwm73gxX1
— Celtic news now (@Celticnewsnow) November 8, 2019
