The timing was impeccable and the technique was executed to perfection. Never mind the goal, Adam Idah’s knee slide celebration against Slovan Bratislava was Champions League class.
The big Irishman buried his big chance to help Celtic get off to the best possible start in the competition – and then nailed his reaction. Idah admitted he was pretty chuffed with both, but more so with the spectacular 5-1 win that’s got Parkhead punters dreaming of gliding into the knockout stages. For the striker it was a magical milestone. His first goal since his return to the club on a permanent deal and his first in the Champions League.
The team performance has sent confidence levels surging ahead of next week’s trip to Germany to take on Borussia Dortmund. And the goal has also got Idah believing he can cut it at the very top. The £9.5m capture said: “It was a bit of a surreal moment. When the ball hit the back of the net, it didn’t feel real at the start. It was just like another goal and then it hit me as I was off celebrating, and that’s when you saw the knee slide come!
“Was I more pleased with the goal or the knee slide? Both, to be honest! It was a dream come true. I think everyone that plays football wants to play in the Champions League, and to score on my debut was amazing.
“It was a fantastic night, we’ve got off to a good start in the Champions League and now we just want to keep going. I’ve got the confidence in myself now, and obviously to go and do it was amazing.
“It gives me a big boost to go on and drive forward now and to do these things on the European nights, whether that is at Celtic Park or away. We are a good team, we know we can beat anyone and that is the belief we need to have, and to have that confidence about the group that we can go on and do great things.
“I think you can see that from the start of the season and the way that we have started, we have been excellent. It’s up to us now to keep that going and not drop the focus, and keep driving forward to aim for bigger things.”
Idah picked up where he left off against Bratislava with a double in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup win against Falkirk. The hitman struck twice in less than two minutes to turn the tie around after the Bairns threatened to cause an almighty upset.
Idah was the hero but he admitted he was raging at his own performance. He said: “I don’t think I’ve scored two goals so quickly, it was a bit mad. I was delighted with the two goals, but I was probably still a bit annoyed with my performance in the end.
“I thought I probably could have got more goals, that’s the frustrating thing. I know I got two goals, but there are other things that I’m not really happy about, so it was a bit of a strange moment for me.”
Idah’s frustration at the display is another sign of the high standards being set at Celtic this season. Boss Brendan Rodgers made eight changes for the Falkirk game and the new look side – that featured full debuts for Auston Trusty and Alex Valle – took time to come together.
The Hoops gaffer had to send on big guns like Nicolas Kuhn and Arne Engels to ensure an awkward afternoon didn’t turn into a disastrous one. Idah admitted they were blown away by the Bairns in the first half and it became the most difficult game Celts have faced all season, at home or in Europe.
He said: “We played Champions League the other day and we were on such a high, and then to come here it was always going to be tough. We changed most of the squad around, not many of us have played together.
“To be fair to them, they came at us really sharp and quick and probably blew us away a bit. It was disappointing in the first half because like I said, it was probably the worst start we’ve had this season and for a while, it wasn’t great.
“But we stuck at it and we stuck together. We spoke at half time, came back and showed what we were made of. I think this is what the best teams do.”
The best teams have the best players – and Kuhn is arguably one of the best in the country right now. The German winger teed up Idah for his double and then added a brace of his own with a couple of cracking finishes.
Kuhn has returned for pre-season like a man possessed and has averaged a goal or an assist every 44 minutes this season. Idah watched the former Ajax and Bayern Munich kid light up the club’s American tour in the summer when he was patiently waiting for Celts to do the deal with Norwich and he was convinced then the attacker was going to shine this term.
Idah said: “He’s been like a new player. Even when I was back at Norwich watching him on the TV, he’s been unbelievable, and I think everyone saw on Sunday what he is made of.
“He made such a big difference, getting two assists and two goals. He’s been top this season. I think we work well together.
“That’s the good thing about this team, everyone is quite close. Obviously there are new players this season and we’re still getting to know each other, and out on the pitch as well it is difficult playing with new guys. Not many of us have played many minutes together, but it’s still early days and I’m sure we’ll get going soon.”