In a rare European win, Neil Lennon’s side carved out a 3-1 victory…and you could hear the relief around Celtic Park.
Perhaps the tide has turned for Celtic. Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel.
It didn’t seem that way in the opening two minutes when the French side took the lead when Julien Feret’s corner was headed into the net by captain Mangane, with the home defence frozen in time (again).
But a double from Anthony Stokes helped Celtic claim their first European win of the season and stay in contention for Europa League progression.
Stokes equalised with a poacher’s goal on the half-hour and the striker fired Celtic ahead before the break.
Gary Hooper came off the bench to seal Celtic’s victory, finishing well at the end of a one-two with Georgios Samaras eight minutes from the end.
The win helped Neil Lennon’s side move on to five points in Group I, two behind joint-leaders Atletico Madrid and Udinese, while Rennes, who had Yann M’Vila sent-off towards the end, are bottom with two points.
Samaras took some stick from the fans – but he had two assists last night.
But the star of the show was the Derry Pele – Paddy McCourt.
Given a rare start, he went on several runs which looked like something out of a football computer game. Pure class. Sheer genius.
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