Celtic 3 Athletic Bilbao 2: Story of James Forrest’s testimonial in 12 pictures as Rodgers enjoys winning return

Celtic capped off a special night for evergreen winger James Forrest by recording an impressive 3-2 victory over Spanish outfit Athletic Bilbao in his testimonial match.

With Brendan Rodgers’ side looking to sign off their pre-season preparations on a positive note, the Hoops left it late to defeat to La Liga side just four days before their Scottish Premiership opener against Ross County.

Forrest - wearing captain’s armband until being replaced in the 49th minute as per his squad number - was given a guard of honour and a standing ovation in front of a healthy crowd pre-match, while the returning Rodgers also received a warm reception from supporters on his homecoming.

The visitors broke the deadlock through Unai Gomez with just two minutes on the clock, but Reo Hatate equalised by arrowing a 20-yard drive into the bottom left-hand corner. However, the Basque outfit immediately restored the lead when Iker Muniain capitalised on a defensive mistake by rifling a powerul strike high past goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist into the net.

Star performer Alexandro Bernabei got on the scoresheet after rounding off a well-worked passing move started by the Argentine left-back on 66 minutes, firing through the legs of Unai Simon. And David Turnbull popped up with the match-winner three minutes later following another clever passage of play by converting from the edge of the box.

Here, we take a look at the story of the match through the camera lense:

Celtic (first-half): Siegrist, Iwata, Carter-Vickers, Nawrocki, Taylor, Kwon, McGregor, Hatate, Maeda, Forrest, Furuhashi

Celtic (second-half): Bain, Ralston, Starfelt, Scales, Bernabei, Holm, Turnbull, O’Riley, Yang, Forrest (Abada; 49), Oh

Substitutes not used: Hart (GK), Haksabanovic, Kelly, Welsh, McPherson