Aston Villa 4 Celtic 2: Prince William goes through rollercoaster of emotions as Morgan Rogers bags stunning hat-trick
ASTON VILLA fans unfurled a massive tifo of celebrity fan Ozzy Osbourne in the Holte End before kick-off.
Then we all boarded the Crazy Train for 90 minutes of mayhem in an epic Battle of Britain clash with Villa super-fan Prince William, in the stands, sharing the tension and ultimately the joy.
This was a night Ollie Watkins will never forget as he took centre stage before kick off - and carried on being the main attraction for most of this extraordinary match.
It's hard to believe Watkins wouldn't have got wind of the fact Arsenal had made a £60million bid for him in the run-up to the match - social media being what it is.
If he did it certainly didn't look as if it affected him as he finally put Celtic to the sword on the hour.
It was a goal worthy of winning a tie of this calibre - quick, with brilliant teamwork, culminating in a clinical finish.
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Morgan Rogers, outstanding all night, rolled Liam Scales in the middle of the park and played in John McGinn.
The little dynamo shrugged off Arne Engels and went scampering deep into Celtic territory before releasing Jacob Ramsey on the right.
The midfielder swept the ball across the face of goal and there was Watkins lurking like the predator he is to slam the ball past Kasper Schmeichel to record his first ever Champions League strike.
The fact he then patted the Villa badge on his chest will be taken as proof by Villa fans that Arsenal can forget about landing their transfer target.
But he wasn't finished there.
Three minutes later Schmeichel fluffed a clearance to McGinn who fed Watkins who had the goal at his mercy.
But despite getting his shot on target he was denied by a fabulous save from Schmeichel who thrust his right arm out to thwart the striker.
Then with Celtic on the ropes Watkins was given the chance to finally finish them off one minute later - from the penalty spot.
Auston Trusty slid in to try and dispossess his opponents and Watkins toppled to the turf.
French ref Clement Turpin gave himself a couple of seconds thinking time before pointing to the spot to Celtic's disgust.
But VAR agreed with the ref and Watkins stepped up to …. take the worst penalty of his career!
Incredibly, he slipped just before making contact and the ball flew off his right boot, onto his standing left foot and flew high over the bar into the Holte End.
Celtic did their best to make him pay a heavy price when Reo Hatate flashed in a long-range effort which flew past Emi Martinez, but was inches off target.
But Watkins wasn't finished yet and he finally put this incredible tie to bed one minute into stoppage time to set Morgan Rogers up for a sensational, never-to-be-forgotten hat-trick.
Celtic imploded from a throw in which they fed to young sub Dane Murray.
Watkins smelled blood and chased down the kid, taking the ball off him like stealing candy from a bairn and rounded Schmeichel before leaving the finish to Rogers to complete his hat-trick.
For once Celttic had no response and the biggest roar of the night came as the players headed to the tunnel when it was confirmed Villa had made it into the top eight to reach the last 16 of the competition.
But boy were they made to work for it on a roller-coaster of a night.
This was Brendan Rodgers 100th European tie as a manager.
But rarely will his emotions have been put through the wringer as they were here last night on an evening of high drama in the Second City.
When the dust had settled these famous clubs - both former champions of Europe - had added another thrilling chapter to their histories.
Rodgers and Unai Emery had both made a point in their pre-match press conferences of saying they didn't want a basketball match - with play raging from end-to-end.
Yet their players clearly never got the memo because that's precisely what they served up for 90 gut-churning, heart-pumping minutes in front of a frenzied full-house.
It only took five minutes for the mayhem to begin as Villa stormed ahead with the first proper attack of the game.
Jacob Ramsey worked a brilliant 1-2 with Youri Tielemans, who got round the back of Alistair Johnson and pulled the ball back for Rogers to rifle home his first Champions League goal.
Then 33 seconds after the restart Rogers helped himself to another with a cracking shot which flew past Kasper Schmeichel with the help of a deflection of Liam Scales.
Celtic had buckled inside five minutes as Rogers became the first player in UEFA Champions League history to score twice in the opening five minutes of a game.
But Celtic are ferocious competitors and they roared back to draw level before half-time thanks to a rapid double from Adam Idah.
He pulled one back after 36 minutes when Greg Taylor ran off Leon Bailey to centre the ball.
John McGinn slid in to try and intercept but only knocked the ball into the path of Idah who brilliantly twisted his body to apply a stunning finish.
Three minutes later the former Norwich man sent Celtic's travelling support wild when he equalised.
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Engels produced a fabulous back heeler to Hatate who rilled the ball across the face of goal to Idah who slammed it beyond Martinez.
Villa were visibly shaken by those goals but recovered after the break to seize their place in the last 16.
