Astana 4 Celtic 3 (aggregate 4-8): Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops qualify for Champions League despite defeat
Kazakh outfit scored three second-half goals to set up nervous finish but could not overturn first-leg deficit
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CELTIC survived a second-half scare to qualify for the Champions League for a second successive season.
A poor second half performance in which Astana scored twice in two minutes left the Hoops looking shaky.
But they held on thanks to their ultimately insurmountable 5-0 lead from the first leg of their Champions League play-off.
Astana took the lead in the first half after Kristoffer Ajer turned a deflected shot into his own net.
But it wasn’t long before Scott Sinclair levelled the score with a superb curled shot from the end of the box.
Celtic seemed to turn off in the second half however, and Astana capitalised quickly by scoring twice in two minutes.
Serikzhan Muzhikov took advantage of a double error by Scott Brown to fire the Kazakhs back into the lead.
Patrick Twumasi made it three soon after heading a crossed ball into the back of Craig Gordon’s net.
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The 23-year-old scored his second of the game later in the half just seconds after Leigh Griffiths missed a glorius chance at the other end.
Despite Astana’s heroics, Olivier Ntcham settled Celtic’s nerves when he fired the ball in to the back of the net to take the Hoops’ tally to seven.
And Griffiths sealed the overall victory when he shot the ball into the bottom corner in the dying minutes.
The Parkhead side will have been hugely relieved to have won the play-off 7-4 on aggregate.
But they will be keen to avoid any similar capitulations in the tournament proper.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will now take their place in the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday afternoon.
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