Pre-season friendly
Monday, July 27, 2020
Celtic Park

CELTIC…3
(Dembele 41, Klimala 78, 83)

HIBERNIAN…1
(Doig 14)

CELTIC fought back from a goal down to win 3-1 against Hibernian at Paradise. Leigh Griffiths helped turn the game around for the champions in their final pre-season match before this weekend’s season opener.

The visitors took an early lead through Josh Doig before Karamoko Dembele levelled for Celtic just before the break. Patryk Klimala rounded off an excellent piece of play from Griffiths to put Celtic in front before heading in the third goal.

The first chance for Celtic came after nearly 10 minutes when Kerr McInroy swung a good ball in from the left wing for Ewan Henderson. The midfielder did well to direct his header downwards and across goal but Hibs keeper Kevin Dabrowski produced a good save to deny the Hoops an early goal.

The Polish stopper was tested again less than a minute later when Karamoko Dembele cut inside from the right wing and drilled a shot on target from 20 yards. The young forward’s effort was too close to the keeper, though, and he was able to save comfortably.

Celtic maintained the attacking pressure on their opponents and created a great goalscoring opportunity a couple of minutes later. Captain for the day, Olivier Ntcham threaded a neat pass through for Scott Robertson, but the 19-year-old could only find the side-netting with his effort.

The visitors responded to the flurry of chances with one of their own and managed to take the lead in the 14th minute. Daryl Horgan ran in behind the Hoops defence and chipped a cross from the byline which Doig finished well with a right-footed volley.

Ntcham came close to an equaliser with a curling left-footed effort from the edge of the area and Klimala looked set to pull the trigger inside the penalty area before Adam Jackson’s last-ditch slidding tackle knocked the ball out for a corner. Dembele saw another effort take a deflection en route to goal and Hatem Elhamed’s header from a corner wasn’t far off target.

The perseverance paid off just before half-time, however, when Celtic got the equaliser their play had merited. Ntcham slipped a pass through the Hibs defence and Dembele coolly tucked the ball into the bottom corner.

Celtic started the second half on the front foot with Patryk Klimala coming close on two occasions early on. Luca Connell picked out the striker on the edge of the box and his first touch created enough space to get a shot off, but Jackson was able to make a crucial block. Klimala was then denied by the post from the resulting corner after doing well to win the header.

Leigh Griffiths replaced Ewan Henderson just before the hour mark and the Hoops striker almost scored within seconds of his introduction. Connell chipped a wonderful ball over the top of the Hibs defence for Griffiths to run on to. He knocked the bouncing ball away from the onrushing keeper, but defender David Gray managed to sweep in and poke clear the danger.

Ntcham almost fired Celtic in front in the 70th minute with a powerful right-footed strike from the edge of the area but Dabrowski saved well. Connell followed up with an attempt of his own from distance shortly after but he couldn’t keep his shot down.

Celtic enjoyed the bulk of possession throughout the remainder of the game and continued searching for another goal. It eventually came thanks to a wonderful piece of skill from Griffiths. Dembele won possession inside the opposition half and immediately feed the ball into the path of Griffiths. He dribbled his way into the Hibs penalty area and evaded a challenge from Jackson with some neat footwork before lifting the ball over the keeper. Klimala knocked the ball home on the line.

Griffiths was denied a goal one minute later when the keeper saved his right-footed shot from just inside the box. Celtic’s third came from the corner which Griffiths swung in to the near post. Anthony Ralston knocked it across goal and Klimala was on hand at the back post to head it in.

CELTIC: Hazard; Elhamed, Welsh, McInroy (Connell 45), Ralston, Ntcham, Robertson, Soro, Henderson (Griffiths 58), Dembele, Klimala
Subs: Doohan

HIBERNIAN: Dabrowski, Stirling, Gray, Jackson, Hanlon, Doig, Hallberg (Murray 68), F. Murray, Mallan, Horgan, Gullan (Shanley 82)
Subs: Johnson, James, Yeats, Campbell

Klimala at the double for Celtic in convincing win over Hibernian