Celtic 5 - 0 Astana: How the Celtic players rated

Ratings out of ten for each and every player in the victorious Celtic side on a memorable night for the club.

Celtic's starting XI prior to the match. Picture: SNS

Keep up to date with all our sport news on The Scotsman’s Sport page on Facebook

Craig Gordon - 7

He gets an extra point for a nifty first half header after sprinting off his line to halt a potential threat. Other than that he was mostly a spectator.

Mikael Lustig - 9

Nullified the threat of Marin Tomasov in the first half when Astana threatened to cause some problems, and played a perfectly weighted through pass which set Rogic off on his run in the build up to the opening goal.

Nir Bitton - 7

The concerns about him prior to the game were unjust as he was solid in defence throughout. Ironically, the only thing which let him down was his distribution, which was uncharacteristically sloppy at times.

Jozo Simunovic - 8

Another who had a couple of wayward passes before the break but he cut that out completely after the restart. Defensively he was an absolute rock throughout the 90 minutes.

Kieran Tierney - 8

Another top notch European performance from the 20-year-old who never fails to shine on the big stage. Dealt easily enough with the threat of Patrick Twumasi, who threatened in the opening period before going quiet, and continued to get down the other end to support.

Scott Brown - 9

The captain seemed to have a sixth sense for danger throughout the match. Wherever Astana got bodies forward, he popped up to help halt the attack. In possession he never seemed to waste a pass. A true leader’s performance.

Olivier Ntcham - 8

The young Frenchman was a little sketchy at times in the first half, showing off his terrific range of passing one second before being sloppy with five-yard balls the next. Like the rest of his side, he tightened it up after the break, and began to stroll through proceedings. Displayed his quality with a superb pass for Leigh Griffiths in the build up to the third goal.

James Forrest - 9

Looked confident from the start as he troubled the visitors with his running and a couple of wicked crosses. Topped off a fine individual performance by netting Celtic’s fourth goal.

Tom Rogic - 8

Played at No.10 but was given license to roam about the attack and find the gaps with which to exploit. This contributed to the opening goal when he drifted out to the right, picked up the pass from Lustig and embarked on a run similar to the one in the Scottish Cup final, with a similarly happy outcome.

Scott Sinclair - 9

Wasn’t in the game in the opening 30 minutes but burst into life once Celtic went a goal up. Scored two vitally important goals, timing runs to perfect to exploit the same in behind the defence, which really seemed to boost his confidence as he got stronger and stronger as the game progressed.

Leigh Griffiths - 8

Another who improved tremendously once Celtic found their way in front. Seemed to be thrown off his game somewhat by an early missed chance, but settled down as the match wore on. Played a well-timed pass for Sinclair to net the third before adding the finishing touches on a memorable night when his shot found the back of the net via a wicked deflection.

SUBS

Callum McGregor 8 - The perfect sub to come on for Tom Rogic. His energy irritated a tiring Astana.

Stuart Armstrong n/a - Came on for James Forrest for the final eight minutes.