Brendan Rodgers felt that Moussa Dembele’s penalty miss was a turning point in his side’s 7-0 thrashing from Barcelona.
Midway through the first half the hoops had a glimmer of hope when Dembele was sent crashing to the deck inside the penalty box.
Saturday’s hat-trick hero picked himself up, claimed the ball and prepared to level the scores from 12 yards out. A two step run up always looks questionable with Marc-André ter Stegen diving to his right and pushing the ball aside for a corner.
It was cruel to watch with Neymar and Lionel Messi cutting Celtic up three minutes later to put Barca 2-0 up at the interval.
“We had a massive moment in the first half,” Rodgers said about the penalty. “We went 1-0 down very early but we had a great chance to level the game.
“If you get a penalty and get the score to 1-1, it makes it a little nervy — especially after them losing here at the weekend but after that, they scored a second goal and, in the second half, we ran out of legs. The game at the weekend, added to their immense quality, made it hard — and the scoreline is bitterly disappointing.
“It was always going to be tough but you have to try to give them something to think about. You don’t get many opportunities at a place like this, so you have to put the penalty away.
“Moussa has been brilliant since he came here but Marc-André ter Stegen read his penalty, saved it and then they went 2-0 up and it was very difficult.”