At the double: Virgil van Dijk’s.
Virgil van Dijk ensured Scottish champions Celtic a safe passage into the Champions League third qualifying round as he scored twice in a 4-0 demolition of Iceland’s KR Reykjavik at Murrayfield on Tuesday.
With Celtic leading 1-0 from the first leg in the Icelandic capital, Van Dijk calmed any lingering nerves with two goals in the space of seven first-half minutes at the home of Scottish rugby in Edinburgh.
The Hoops were forced to relocate with their Parkhead stadium out of commission due to its use in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but the change of venue had little bearing on the outcome as Teemu Pukki also netted a brace with Celtic cruising to a 5-0 aggregate victory.
The Hoops will next face Polish side Legia Warsaw or Irish outfit St. Patrick’s Athletic, who drew the first leg 1-1 in Poland, as they try to make it to the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition.
Celtic boss Ronny Deila, who took over from Neil Lennon last month, handed Pukki a start in place of the injured Anthony Stokes in the lone change from last week’s tie in Reykjavik as last season’s leading scorer Kris Commons recovered in time from a thigh injury to feature in the Scottish capital.
Celtic were always expected to have far too much firepower for an opponent with little continental pedigree and the 1967 European champions were ahead on 13 minutes as centre-half Van Dijk bundled in from close range after visiting goalkeeper Stefan Magnusson flapped at Charlie Mulgrew’s header following a corner. Another set-piece seven minutes later resulted in Van Dijk’s second goal of the evening as right-back Mikael Lustig headed a Commons corner back across goal with Magnusson once again left grasping air as Van Dijk nodded Celtic further ahead.
Callum McGregor, scorer of the winner against the Icelandic champions a week ago on his Celtic debut, set up the home side’s third goal on 27 minutes as he slid the ball across for Pukki to slide home from two yards out.
Celtic continued their dominance after half-time with Pukki completing his double after rounding Magnusson and firing into an empty net on 71 minutes, but the Finland international was denied the chance for a hat-trick as he was then immediately replaced by Liam Henderson.
Commons, who topped the Scottish Premiership scoring charts with 27 goals a year ago, almost opened his account for the 2014/15 season eight minutes from time only for his left-footed drive from Lustig’s cut-back to smack against the post.
