Celtic 1 - 0 Liverpool

Amido Balde’s lone first half goal was all that separated Celtic and Liverpool at the Aviva Stadium and saw the Hoops fans take home the bragging rights from the Dublin Decider.


The new number 17 put in a top shift and notched the contest’s only goal after 12 minutes to send the delighted Celtic support home happy.


The game started somewhat slowly as both sides traded possession, happy to soak up the incredible atmosphere each set of supporters were creating and even emerged on to the pitch to a truly spine-tingling rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone that rung around the capital venue from every corner.


After 12 minutes of play it livened up though, the Bhoys hitting the front when Balde flicked cutely around Kolo Toure, latching on to the ball and showing good composure to curl home and although Simon Mignolet got a touch, it was not enough to stop it looping over him and into the net.


Liveropol then had two great chances to equalise almost immediately as first Steven Mouyokolo showed great awareness to get back and block a goalbound attempt from Philippe Coutinho before Lukasz Zaluska was smartly off his line to block from the Brazilian as he rounded the defence.


The Polish ‘keeper, who has oft been understudy during his time at Celtic, will have done his chances of trying to take the number one jersey from Fraser Forster no harm when he produced a brilliant flying save to his right to deny a delicious Stewart Downing curler.


After 20 minutes, he continued to impress as this time Downing split the defence with a well-timed through ball for the onrushing Glen Johnson but the full-back’s low effort was saved once more by the ex-Dundee United man, low to his right on this occasion.


The Reds had started to control the game since going ahead creating a lot of chances and having the better of the possession although the Scottish champions continued to look a decent threat on the break although it was Downing and Coutinho on each flank who were the men to watch.


Celtic did have the last chance of the half though when Anthony Stokes headed towards goal but Mignolet was more than equal to it, saving comfortably.


Brendan Rodgers replaced Iago Aspas with Daniel Sturridge at the break and he almost had an instant impact after picking up the ball in the area and curling for the postage stamp but his shot ended up inches wide.


The Premier League outfit had started strongly and Coutinho and Sturridge were both only inches away from getting on the end of a Downing cutback to roll the ball home while Mignolet was again the nemesis of Stokes after saving from him at the other end.


Liverpool, and the PA at the national stadium, thought they had equalised when a Gerrard free kick was headed home by Kolo Toure but the assistant’s flag begged to differ and the Hoops remained ahead.


Coutinho then spurned a decent opportunity when he ran at an exposed Celtic defence but instead of playing in Sturridge he opted to go it alone and ended up flashing his strike wide of Forster’s goal.


By this stage, due to the toll injuries and the Champions League had placed on Neil Lennon’s squad, the Celtic XI on the field was largely made up of players who starred for the club’s underage sides in recent seasons.


Sturridge then showed great vision with five minutes to go after racing on to a Coutinho pass to clip over the head of Forster but narrowly got his angles wrong and it ended up wide once more as did a scorching drive from 30 yards a minute later which had the big goalkeeper scrambling but it was the Bhoys who held on to be crowned kings of the city on this delightful Dublin Saturday evening.


Celtic: Lukasz Zaluska (Fraser Forster HT); Adam Matthews, Steven Mouyokolo, Mikael Lustig (Darnell Fisher HT), Emilio Izaguirre (Stuart Findlay 64); Dylan McGeouch, Jackson Irvine, Beram Kayal (Paul George 84), Tony Watt (Liam Henderson 83); Amido Balde (Bahrudin Atajic 69), Anthony Stokes (C).

Subs not used: John Herron.

Booked: None.


Liverpool: Simon Mignolet; Glen Johnson, Kolo Toure, Andre Wisdom, Jose Enrique;  Stewart Downing (Jordon Ibe 71), Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen (Jordan Henderson 57), Steven Gerrard (C), Philippe Coutinho; Iago Aspas (Daniel Sturridge HT).

Subs not used: Brad Jones, Luis Alberto, Oussama Assaidi, Sebastian Coates, Fabio Borini, Raheem Sterling, Martin Kelly, Jon Flanagan.

Booked: Stokes (43).

Referee: Alan Kelly

Attendance:

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Amido Balde