THE association that exists between Celtic and Slavia Prague has long been a close one due to the importance of Johnny Madden in the history or both clubs.
Madden was a member of the first ever Celtic forward line after the Parkhead club was formed. He later went on to manage Slavia and did so successfully in that role that he is widely considered today to be the father of Czech football.
This pre-season friendly between the two clubs last night was the perfect occasion, then, to honour the man from Dumbarton who started out his working life as a riveter in the Glasgow shipyards. The opportunity was not passed up.
The main stand in the modern Eden Arena in the Vrsovice district of the city was, to the delight of the Slavia supporters in attendance and amid showers of confetti, renamed after a figure who was every bit as important to their club as Jock Stein was to Celtic. Tribuna JW Maddena is a fitting tribute to a remarkable man.
Celtic had sent first team players Nir Bitton and Erik Sviatchenko to a reception hosted by the British ambassador (under strict instructions from their manager Brendan Rodgers, you would presume, not to scoff any Ferrero Rocher) in Prague earlier in the day.
The gathering was attended by representatives of Dukla Prague, FK Bohemians and Slavia Prague as well as members of the Dukla team who had played against Celtic in the European Cup semi-final back in 1967. Shirts were swapped, stories were told and pleasantries exchanged.
This meeting between Slavi and Celtic is not one that will live long in the memory of anyone who was in attendance. What game at this time of year does? Rodgers, though, will have been heartened by much what he witnessed.
Certainly Slavia, the current Czech champions, were completely outclassed by their opponents and at no stage looked like conceding a goal. A second clean sheet in three games was duly recorded.
The injury which Dedryck Boyata suffered after being caught in possession by Josef Husbauer was a definite setback for the Scottish champions. The Belgian established himself as their first choice centre half last season. If he is sidelined for any extended period of time his absence will be keenly felt.
He fell to the ground in agony and held his hands to his face in obvious despair after what looked like an innocuous exchange. He failed to reappear for the second half. His place was taken by new signing Jonny Hayes.
But Celtic performed far better than they had in their earlier run-outs on their pre-season tour of Austria and the Czech Republic against Blau-Weiss Linz in Rohrbach last Wednesday and Rapid Vienna in Amstetten on Saturday. This was a definite improvement.
Celtic, who had been poor in the first half against Rapid in the Ertl Glas Stadium at the weekend and fallen behind, dominated the opening 45 minutes last night. James Forrest looked especially bright on the right flank and both created chances for his team mates and tested goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka himself.
Tom Rogic, playing in his favoured role just behind lone striker Leigh Griffiths, also fared well. He set up the Glasgow club for their best chance of the game seven minutes into the second half when he dinked the ball over the heads of the home defence to Griffiths.
The striker squared the ball back into the box and it fell to feet of Scott Sinclair. The wide man had time and space to control the ball and get his shot away. He lost possession, though, and the scores remained level.
Sinclair was substituted shortly afterwards as Rodgers made a triple substitution. Griffiths and Jozo Simunovic also left the field as Stuart Armstrong, Moussa Dembele and Erik Sviatchenko were brought on.
Callum McGregor had a chance to put Celtic in front after he went on a jinking run into the Slavia area. But after dancing past three players and teeing himself up for a shot he lost his balance and drilled the ball into the side netting. More finishing practice is clearly required for both the midfielder and his team mates.
That Celtic have only scored once from open play – they volley which Forrest netted late on against second tier Linz last week – on their summer tour will be a slight concern to their manager.
One of the great strengths of Rodgers’s side last season was that every player, not just Griffiths as had been the case the previous term, contributed goals. But they have to sharpen up their play in the final third on the evidence of this latest display.
The Slavia Intellectuals, the home team’s equivalent of the Green Brigade, packed out one end of modern 21,000-capacity stadium and were in fine voice throughout the 90 minutes despite it being a meaningless match. One of their number even set off a couple of flares midway through the second half.
A pocket of about 100 Celtic fans or so filled one corner of the opposite stand and gave as good as they got. They will be hoping they have something to cheer about when their latest campaign gets up and running next week after this improved showing.
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