CELTS WARMING UP NICELY NOW

THE Estadio Algarve has been the scene of a few embarrassing moments for Scottish sides over the years.

- By Michael Gannon

There was last year’s laboured 2-0 win over the part-timers from Gibraltar in these parts, and before then we had the toe-curling Gordon Strachan celebration selfie after his Scots had beaten the minnows in 2016 — even though we’d already failed to make the Euros.

But there were certainly no red faces for Celtic here amid the sea of green and white — apart from perhaps the sunburnt ones — as the Hoops secured an impressive friendly win against a strong Sporting Lisbon side.

After a cool start, Celts are starting to really warm up ahead of the new campaign.

Sporting were a huge step up in class in the preseason ladder but Brendan Rodgers’ men were slick at times in 30-degree heat.

Reo Hatate and Luke McCowan netted in the second period — but they should have been well ahead by halftime against a team that featured £70million Manchester United target Morten Hjulmund and Portugal stars Pedro Goncalves and Francisco Trincao.