Celtic 3-0 Jablonec (agg 7-2) - Celtic cruise into Europa League play-off
- Published
Ange Postecoglou says Celtic "still have got a long way to go" despite strolling past Czech Republic's Jablonec in the third qualifying round of the Europa League at Celtic Park.
The dominant hosts continued their recent resurgence with a brace from David Turnbull before James Forrest added a third.
Postecoglou's side will now face AZ Alkmaar in the play-off.
"I'm not getting too carried away about our progress," he told BBC Scotland.
"Wins and good performances builds belief, but we're not the finished article yet."
After being knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by Denmark's Midtjylland, then losing their opening Scottish Premiership game of the season to Hearts, Celtic have now enjoyed three wins in a row with 13 goals scored as their season has been reignited.
"For the first 25 minutes, we were the team that we want to be," the Australian manager said. "We lost our way a little, but we upped our tempo again in the second half. It's hard to play at that intensity all the time, but they will get better."
The anticipation was high around Celtic Park, with three stands packed to the rafters, and that energy fed on to the players.
Kyogo Furuhashi had scored three in the weekend trouncing of Dundee and, within 40 seconds, he could have put Celtic ahead. Finding himself one-on-one with Jan Hanus, he tried to dummy the goalkeeper, but the Czech got a foot in to deny him.
The Japanese forward soon had the ball in the net, but this time he was adjudged to be offside after slipping on to Forrest's through ball.
The goal was coming though. Stephen Welsh twice headed over and Turnbull had a powerful shot pushed away before Celtic finally broke the visitors' resistance.
Greg Taylor slipped the ball into Turnbull, who poked it past the goalkeeper with a sumptuous finish with the outside of his right foot.
Jablonec had half chances and a penalty claim when Carl Starfelt slid in on Dominik Plestil inside the box, but goalkeeper Joe Hart was having little to do.
Turnbull finished the tie as a contest when he collected a pass from Callum McGregor, sized up the shot from outside the area and hammered it inside the post.
It was cruise control for Celtic, but two chances in a minute from the visitors woke them up, Hart twice having to block close-range shots from Martin Dolezal and Milos Kratochvil.
However, soon it was three when Odsonne Edouard raced clear of the defence, attempted to lob Hanus, who did well to get a hand to it, but Forrest was there to knock in the rebound.
At times, Celtic took their foot off the gas and Hart was nearly punished when he was robbed of the ball after going for a run with it inside the box. Tomas Cvancara fired the loose ball at goal, but the Celtic defence managed to get back to block.
Man of the match - David Turnbull
Even without his two goals, David Turnbull impressed in midfield for Celtic with some great passing.
What did we learn?
Postecoglou's influence on the team is beginning to shine through and again Celtic showed plenty of attacking invention.
At times, the foot came off the gas and still defensively they can creak at times, but two great saves from Joe Hart will do his confidence the world of good and it's a second welcome clean sheet in a row for Celtic.
What's next?
Celtic host Hearts on Sunday in the Scottish League Cup (15:00 BST) before facing AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday in the Europa League play-off round.
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