Tuesday turned into a disappointing evening for Celtic fans as we opened up our 2023/24 Champions League Group E campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Dutch Eredivisie side Feyenoord.
It was always going to be a tough game at De Kuip, and in many ways Celtic did give a semi reasonable account of themselves, however, in the key moments of the game we were not up to scratch or sharp enough. Having conceded during first half stoppage time, we were still more than in the game but just after the hour mark we utterly imploded and Gustaf Lagerbielke saw red in the 63rd minute having picked up two yellow cards. Five minutes later, we completely shot ourselves in the foot as substitute Odin Thiago Holm saw a straight red for a completely wild and unwarranted challenge.
With 14 minutes left on the clock, they added their second to wrap up the victory and even though there were plenty of positives that should have been taken from the game, they would have difficult for fans to acknowledge given the more disastrous nature of the second half performance. For those fans who did take the positives and like a flutter, champions league betting could be an option for the upcoming Group E matches.
Reflecting on the 90 minutes after the final whistle had been blown, manager Brendan Rodgers was trying to remain positive.
“What we showed is that we’re going to be competitive. We started really well. We looked a threat and progressed the ball. With better decisions we might’ve had an opportunity to get in front. Unfortunately we get two players sent off. It’s a difficult level at 11 v 11. The players kept going, it was harsh on them. The first 60 minutes we were well in the game. They never gave up. With one or two more players coming back, it’ll hopefully put us in really good stead for the remainder of the competition.”
Pressed a little further on the performance, Rodgers described 23 year old, one capped Swedish international defender Lagerbielke’s sending off, as a touch of ‘inexperience’, and he thought similar was true of Norwegian youth international Holm’s straight red, insisting the 20 year old midfielder would learn from the experience.
“I feel for the players, I think for the first 60 minutes it was a very even game against a team that’s doing well and scoring a lot of goals, and we matched them. Disappointed with the first goal. We made a decision in the game to adjust the wall and it cost us but we’ll take that, I don’t mind players making decisions in-game. Very disappointed with the two red cards and nine men is obviously very difficult. If we get to the last game to play Feyenoord at home with everything to play for, we’ll be in with a fantastic chance.”
Despite saving the penalty in the game, goalkeeper Joe Hart shared greater disappointment, as he felt like it was in our hands to get a reasonable away result, before ultimately, we let ourselves down with some bad decision making.
“Now we know one of our rivals in this tournament, we feel like we can definitely compete with them. We had plenty of character, desire and buying into the messages that we are being given. We were in a good game, a close, close game. At 11 v 11, it felt like we could give it a right good go.”
The first goal obviously proved to be key to the eventual outcome, but Hart did feel that he maybe should have done a little bit better with the free kick.
“Once it went past Kyogo, I couldn’t get across quickly enough with the skip and the curl on the ball. The goal is disappointing from my point of view. I’ve got high standards.”
Over to the players to respond appropriately now, and build on the positives we should have taken from the game.
