Celtic player ratings vs Dinamo Zagreb: Terrific Trusty but Kyogo fails to fire on frustrating night in front of goal

Celtic edged closer to the Champions League knockout stages after being held to a goalless draw against depleted Dinamo Zagreb at the Stadion Maksimir.

Searching for an elusive win on their travels in the Croatian capital, the Hoops were presented with a glorious opportunity to end a seven-year away day hoodoo in the competition against a Dinamo side in a state of disarray having gone on a five-game run without victory in all competitions and recorded no wins in five games at home since the end of September.

Head coach Nenad Bjelica has also had to contend with a crippling injury list of late with 13 players missing, only four fully-fit defenders available and just two senior players featuring on their bench.

Despite their opponents troubles, visiting boss Brendan Rodgers had warned his players against showing signs of complacency as he refused to pay much attention to claims the Croats are a “wounded animal”. He made four changes to his line-up with most notably marquee summer signing Arne Engels dropped to the bench after starting the 3-0 win over Hibs at the weekend.

Celtic enjoyed over 70% possession during the early stages without being able to force an opening. In truth, they were a bit sloppy in the final third and not taking any risks. It took the hosts 15 minutes to have a period of sustained pressure inside the visitors half of the pitch with Marko Pjaca, who scored a hat-trick for Dinamo against Celtic in the Europa League back in 2014, posing a dangerous threat.

The first chance of a drab first half fell to Paulo Bernardo after a free-kick was awarded right on the edge of the box. The Portuguese midfielder curled his effort over the five-man wall but wasn’t able to keep it from fizzing narrowly over the crossbar.

Rodgers’ men continued to dictate proceedings as if they were the home team but much of their positive attacking play broke down with wingers Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn having little joy down either flank against a well-drilled Dinamo rearguard.

Arguably the best chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Sandro Kulenovic who was unable to divert his near-post effort on target after creating some space for himself in the penalty area shortly after fluffing his lines with an attempted volley.

Celtic knew the game was there for the taking, but a more direct threat was required to unlock Dinamo’s defence. They almost did so on the stroke of half-time when a misplaced Reo Hatate pass to Nicolas Kuhn saw another potential route to goal go begging with the German finding himself in a perfect position.

Rodgers was forced into an enforced change at the break with Anthony Ralston coming on for Alistair Johnston, who was unable to shake off an earlier knock to his right leg. The Scotland international was immediately involved, slipping a clever pass through for Kuhn who dribbled his way into the box and saw his deflected effort flash inches over the bar.

The game was starting to spring into life as spaces began to open up and it took an excellent block from Auston Trusty to prevent Pjaca‘s fierce strike from bursting the net before a sliced clearance from Greg Taylor moments later handed Martin Baturina a shot on goal but his drilled low effort was straight at Kasper Schmeichel.

Cameron Carter-Vickers then lashed wildly over the bar after reacting to a Bernardo corner that was aimed towards the front-post. Sensing danger, Rodgers made a double change with Arne Engels and Luke McCowan entering the fray with 25 minutes remaining. They both made a difference with the latter forcing Danijel Zagorac into a smart save from the edge of the box.

But Dinamo were finally starting to play with more attacking intent and they were next to threaten. A delivery from the right-hand side was met by Pjaca at the back-post and his header was expertly tipped behind for a corner by Schmeichel at full stretch.

Celtic looked to throw their last few darts at the hosts and substitute Adam Idah was denied a certain tap-in after some last-ditch defending by Kevin Theophile-Catherine saw him cut out Engels low cross.

This felt like a missed opportunity for Celtic after dominating large spells, but they still took another step towards progression to the playoff round for the first time in over a decade with a clash against winless Young Boys up next at Parkhead on matchday seven.

Here’s how GlasgowWorld rated the Celtic players in Zagreb.