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Celtic 4-2 Utrecht: Hoops progress to Europa League playoffs

  /  autty

Celtic beat Utrecht 4-2 at Parkhead to earn a place in next month's Europa League playoffs.

The Scottish Premiership champions did the job early as Martin O'Neill's side went 3-0 up inside only 19 minutes thanks to strikes from Benjamin Nygren, a Nick Viergever own goal and an Arne Engels penalty, the club's earliest-ever three-goal lead in a major European game.

The opener came after a well-worked goal following a short corner as Kieran Tierney got to the byline and pulled the pull back for Nygren to score from close range, the tall Swede's 14th goal already of an impressive campaign.

The hosts soon doubled their lead after a catalogue of errors at the back from Utrecht as first former Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas's under-hit pass out from the back was intercepted by that man Nygren.

And the forward's low ball across the box was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Nick Viergever as the visitor's skipper stretched to intercept.

It then went from bad to worse for the Eredivisie side when Dani de Wit was harshly adjudged to have handled Auston Trusty's close-range header from a corner, with Engels doing the rest from the spot.

However, Celtic lost their way before half-time, perhaps thinking the game was over, with De Wit sweeping home from the edge of the box and when Adrian Blake also found the net from distance after a swift counter just past the hour mark, home nerves began to jangle.

Not for long, though, with the home team soon restoring their two-goal cushion as Trusty rose highest in the six-yard box to nod home Engels's inviting ball in from a corner to confirm their place in the playoffs on February 19 and 26, with Friday's draw set to confirm their opponents - either Stuttgart or Ferencvaros.

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