Soccer Football - Champions League - Group H - Celtic v Real Madrid - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - September 6, 2022 Celtic's Callum McGregor shoots at goal REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Twenty one minutes into the match, on the back of a bold and aggressive start Celtic had their ‘what if’ moment against Real Madrid.
Fuelled by anticipation that had been building since the draw had been made Celtic were back in the big time against the biggest of them all.
Ange Postecoglou’s team had delivered what the manager had put on the tin. They were attacking the champions of Europe from every direction.
A move down the left, fed into the box, laid back into the path of an advancing midfielder. Near perfect contact, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois motionless but as the ball flew past it struck the inside of the post, crossed the goal-line and flew to safety.
Callum McGregor came so close to making the Celtic fans go wild! ?
Such a clean strike! #UCL pic.twitter.com/mE7uo6M8H1
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 6, 2022
If, if that had gone in the game could well have shaped up different but we’ll never know.
Could Celtic have added a second, would Real have retaliated? We’ll never know.
Next week Celtic go to Warsaw. Shakhtar’s win away to RB Leipzig puts a different complexion on the group but taking at least a point from that match is essential for Celtic’s hopes. If Shakhtar take six points from their first two matches they will be in pole position to progress.
No shame whatsoever in losing to probably the best club team in the world at the moment but what is really disappointing is the golden chances squandered – both Abada & Maida were guilty of atrocious misses & not for the first time by any means.
Abada can be like a headless chicken at times & reverted to it last night. Maida has absolutely no composure in front of goal & has shown that time & time again. The question has to be asked as to why on earth that situation has not been addressed by coaching & practice on the training pitch. Surely they have seen it by now?
So proud of the display last night. Sure we could have taken our chances better, but McGregor was very unlucky hitting the post at 0-0 and we didn’t take the easy way out and play a 10 man defence. We came out fighting and played our game our way against the champions. Ancelotti even admitted we had them worried. No shame losing to Real and we will get better results playing like that against the other teams.
Compare and contrast with our neighbours tonight. 3-0 down at HT against an Ajax team that has lost lots of its best players this summer. Absolutely abject performance, no fight, no clue, sluggish pace, no press or pressure and Fat Swallery going off his raging nut in the BT studio. Even arch apologist Kenny Miller highly critical.
That is just Gobshite “BlackSox”. You can’t score goals unless you make chances. How many chances did Madrid make in the first half? Celtic were by far the better team and at 0-0 and looked the more likely to win. Madrid could not handle Angeball, or Plan A, as others know it!