Celtic goalkeeper Conor Hazard emerged victorious from another penalty shootout as his Helsinki side progressed in the Champions League first qualifying round.
The Northern Irish stopper is out on loan at the Finnish side who are looking to run the elite European qualification gauntlet and reach group stage football in this competition for the first time since season 1998/99. Doing so won't be easy for the 2021 Veikkausliiga champions but they have just about made it through their first test.
Coming up against FK RFS of Latvia, Helsinki won the first leg 1-0 before travelling abroad for their second. They lost 2-1 after finding themselves two goals down, a Murilo effort 15 minutes from time force an extra half-hour of football and subsequently penalties. All but one of the 10 spot-kicks were inch-perfect but RFS' Stefan Panic sailed his over the crossbar to seal his opponents' place in round two via a 5-4 success.
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It means a match with Czech champions Viktoria Plzen now awaits the Celtic loanee and the Finnish side in their next Champions League challenge.
Hazard has tasted penalty shootout victory before, Neil Lennon handing him a shock start in the 2020 Scottish Cup final against Hearts that was eventually won via a 12-yard face-off.
Currently, Joe Hart, Benjamin Siegrist and Scott Bain are the senior stopper options at Parkhead with Ross Doohan leaving permanently for Tranmere earlier this summer and Vasilis Barkas on loan at Utrecht.
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