IT may have been Artur Boruc’s night, but from Celtic’s point of view, this was the Reo Hatate show.
The Japanese midfielder burst onto the scene when he arrived in Scotland in January, scoring spectacular goals and memorably helping to put Rangers to the sword, before a long J-League season prior to signing for Celtic seemed to catch up with him and his level dropped markedly.
The big question was whether a rest over the summer would help him recharge and refresh, and whether he would return as the player who first blew the Celtic support away upon his arrival at the club.
The answer appears to be a resounding yes. In fact, he may even have gone up a level.
The usual caveats are in place of course given it is pre-season, but the glimpses the Celtic support have had of Hatate over this programme of friendly matches will no doubt have reignited their excitement over what the former Kawasaki Frontale man can bring to Ange Postecoglou’s team.
He was only on the field for 45 minutes here, but he helped himself to a brilliantly taken goal and provided another for Daizen Maeda.
The only concern from the trip to Warsaw for Celtic manager Postecoglou would be just how far his side’s level dropped once Hatate and a host of other starters left the action at the interval, the visitors meekly surrendering the two-goal lead that their hugely impressive first-half display had yielded.
The main aim of the evening of course was to help Legia Warsaw say goodbye to a legend of both clubs, with the turnout for the goalkeeper a lot healthier than had been feared earlier in the week when only around 3000 tickets had been shifted.
There is no doubt the esteem Boruc is held in at Celtic Park, who looked leaner if anything than he even was at his peak in Scotland as he took his place in the home goal.
Celtic started with some neat possession, but it was Legia who went closest early on, Anthony Ralston having to look smart to get in behind Joe Hart and scoop a low cross to safety from his own goal line.
There was another runout for Alexandro Bernabei, and the left-back showed his willingness to get beyond James Forrest to get a good cross in that was scrambled clear.
Boruc showed he still had it as Celtic won the ball high up the pitch with their press and Matt O’Riley played Forrest in on goal. His touch was good, but Boruc spread himself in trademark style to deflect the ball inches past the post.
From the corner, Forrest should have given him no chance as the ball fell his way in the area, but his half-volley was rather sclaffed and it spun up past the post.
Boruc had absolutely no chance though as Celtic did get the opener, as a peach of a pass over the top from Callum McGregor found Hatate drifting into the area. The midfielder allowed the ball to drop over his shoulder before hooking it over the advancing keeper first-time and into the net.
Celtic were in full flow now, and Legia were finding it hard to live with their pace and movement. O’Riley cracked an effort off the post, before McGregor then did the same moments later.
Maeda then blew a glorious opportunity as a slack pass saw him presented with an open goal, but with Boruc doing perhaps enough to get into his eyeline, he blasted wide of the far post.
For all their domination though, Celtic were still looking a little vulnerable to the counter, and Mladenovic should have done better than blast high and wide after the visitors were caught short of numbers at the back.
It didn’t look to be O’Riley’s night, as he then glanced an Anthony Ralston cross off the opposite post than the one he hit earlier, but Celtic were undeterred and were soon two up.
Hatate turned provider this time, taking a pass from Stephen Welsh on the turn 30 yards from goal before sliding in Maeda, who hit it first time low past Boruc to make the half-time scoreline more reflective of the general flow of the game.
It was a shame to see Hatate leave the action at the break, as Ange Postecoglou made seven changes, with Hart, Ralston, Bernabei, O’Riley Abada and Forrest also making way for Scott Bain, Josip Juranovic, Greg Taylor, David Turnbull, Yosuke Ideguchi, Jota and Kyogo the men to come on.
The second half started poorly for Celtic though, as a long punt from substitute goalkeeper Tobiasz was allowed to bounce by Cameron Carter-Vickers, and he was then uncharacteristically outmuscled by Legia striker Maciej Rosolek who finished low past replacement Celtic keeper Scott Bain.
There were three more changes before the hour as Chris Jullien, James McCarthy and Mikey Johnston came on for Carter-Vickers, McGregor and Maeda, leaving Stephen Welsh as the sole surviving starter.
Celtic rather lost their fluency going forward and their organisation defensively as a result, and Rosolek should have levelled as he prodded a low cross wide on the stretch. Celtic wouldn’t get off the hook soon after though, as a well-taken chest and volley from Josue snuck into the bottom corner to level the score.
Bosun Lawal came on late for Welsh, but there was little else of note for Celtic to take from a disjointed second-half display.
A tearful Boruc took to the field for the final seconds, then led the crowd in an emotional sing-song as the curtain came down on the career of a man who will be remembered fondly both in Warsaw, and in one half of Glasgow, at least.
