OLIVIER Ntcham is adamant Friday night’s match-winning goal against Partick Thistle was his - and hopes his maiden strike will merely be the first of many for the Parkhead club. While a crucial final touch from Scott Brown deceived Thistle goalkeeper Tomas Cerny, the Frenchman deserves the credit for the technique he showed to control his volley from a dropping ball.
While it would perhaps be wrong to expect Stuart Armstrong’s kind of midfield return from Ntcham, who scored just three times during his loan spell at Serie A outfit Genoa from Manchester City, his intervention allowed Celtic to warm up for Wednesday night’s Champions League play-off tie against Astana with a victory from a match where they didn’t appear to be their usual fluent selves. A match which took their invincible domestic run since the Northern Irishman’s arrival through the half century mark, they were also grateful for referee Andrew Dallas’ non-award of a late penalty to the hosts when Nir Bitton went in clumsily on Thistle substitute Miles Storey.
“For me yes it’s definitely my goal,” said Ntcham. “Scott didn’t try to claim it, he just touched the ball but the ball was going inside. But I am very happy, it is a good feeling as it is my first goal and I hope this is the first of many goals. Is that possible? Yes because it is always my target to score goals and make assists.”
Ntcham has been preferred to Armstrong for both of the club’s league outings to date - as the Scotland midfielder’s contractual impasse continues - but it will be instructive to discover which gets the nod against Astana. Rodgers admitted at the weekend that the dispute had been affecting the conscientious Armstrong’s form and hoped it would be resolved as soon as possible. “You can see it in him,” said Rodgers. “He’s a very conscientious boy, Stuart. He’s not one of these boys who can just sack it off and just play and not think and worry.”
There are talking points aplenty in a huge week for the club. Having previously stated his intention to run with just two main strikers, Rodgers said he was now concerned enough about the fitness of Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele that he would really like to recruit another. While Bitton has deputised at the back, there was a transfer link Rivaldo Coetzee, Ajax Cape Town’s South African central defender.
Astana have overcome Spartaks Jurmala and Legia Warsaw to reach this stage and the entire Rodgers project may look rather different were it not for Moussa Dembele’s last minute penalty against these opponents 12 months ago. With the second match to be played on an artificial surface where the Kazakhs are virtually unbeatable, the Northern Irishman pinpointed African strike pairing Patrick Twumasi and Junior Kabananga as danger men.
Having watched Celtic go toe-to-toe with his parent club Manchester City last year, Ntcham admits that defeat at this stage was unthinkable. “I watched the games against the sides last season, the first game was 3-3 and the second one was 1-1 and they were two really good games,” he said. “For me if Celtic don’t go into the Champions League it will be a strange feeling.”
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