Player ratings: Celtic 0-3 Roma – Ferguson and Soule step up

Evan Ferguson and Matias Soule were among the standout performers during Roma’s 3-0 victory over Celtic in Glasgow in the Europa League on Thursday evening, a result which has sent the Giallorossi into 10th place in the league table. 

An own-goal from Liam Scales six minutes in followed by a first-half brace from Evan Ferguson were enough for Roma to claim a comfortable victory, despite a missed penalty from Arne Engels and each side having a goal ruled out for offside in the second half. 

Celtic: Schmeichel 6; Trusty 5, Scales 4.5, Tierney 5 (Donovan 6); Yang 5.5 (Ralston 5.5), McGregor 5.5, Engels 5, Tounekti 6; Hatate 6 (Balikwisha n/a), Maeda 5 (Bernardo 6), Nygren 5 (Iheanacho 6). 

Best Celtic player: Kelechi Iheanacho 6 – Celtic’s game only really got going in the second half, when they were already 3-0 down and after a triple substitution at the break. Iheanacho, recently returned from injury, was a bright spark for the hosts when he came on and looked determined to get his name on the scoresheet. He will be frustrated to have seen his effort ruled out for offside 65 minutes in. Who knows, there might have been enough time left for Celtic to make Roma start feeling uneasy at that point.

Coach: Wilfrid Nancy 5 – A night to forget on his first European match in charge of Celtic. Enormously frustrating for him to see his side go 1-0 down through a set-piece six minutes in, and it then seemed difficult for the hosts to match Celtic’s intensity. Too many slip-ups on the ball and in their own half, which Roma were able to punish. 

Roma: Svilar 6; Mancini 7, Ndicka 6, Hermoso 5 (Ziolkowski 5.5), Celik 6.5, El Aynaoui 6, Pisilli 6 (Angelino n/a), Rensch 6; Soule 7 (Dybala 6), El Shaarawy 6 (Pellegrini 6); Ferguson 7.5 (Bailey 6.5). 

Best Roma player: Evan Ferguson 7.5 – A really well deserved brace for the Irishman, his first ever goals in European competition, who applied two very well-taken finishes to claim his first-half double. It was an energetic and battling performance from the Giallorossi loanee, who now has three goals in his last five appearances across all competitions. Only two of those have been starts. 

Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini 7.5 

Despite making wholesale changes and leaving out big names in Paulo Dybala and Manu Kone, Roma were right at it from the off, played with great intensity and did not panic after taking such an early lead in the sixth minute. It was the near-perfect first-half performance, the only fault being the penalty that Mario Hermoso gave away in the dying moments. It was a task in game management in the second half, and Roma will have been relieved to have seen Kelechi Iheanacho’s goal ruled out for offside. Overall, a great response after their disappointment against Cagliari in Serie A over the weekend.