Champions League: Villa Park bedlam sums up gripping Celtic campaign

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Champions League: Villa Park bedlam sums up gripping Celtic campaign

While Celtic’s fightback and competitiveness was admirable, the defeat was a reminder of the unforgiveable nature of playing the best in the Champions League.

Villa scored four, missed a penalty, hit a post, had one cleared off the line, racking up a hefty expected goals rating of 3.62.

Celtic played on the edge of chaos as they pressed and tried to move the ball quickly. At times it worked, but there were also a lot of mistakes.

They were caught in possession trying to play out from the back for Villa’s second.

And Liam Scales was punished ruthlessly for pushing too high up the pitch for the third as Villa easily broke through on the counter.

Auston Trusty erratically slid in to give away a penalty, while a poor header from the American in the first half lead to Jacob Ramsey hitting a post.

Young defender Dane Murray – only recently returned from Queen’s Park – was robbed in his own box for the fourth in stoppage time.

There were plenty more moments when Celtic got themselves into trouble.

Without their best centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers it was always going to be a tough task defensively, while Daizen Maeda’s defensive output was missed as Villa got joy down the flanks in the first half.

Maeda will miss the first leg of the next round due to suspension, and with Kyogo Furuhashi away to Rennes, and left-back Alex Valle joining him out the door, the last few days of the transfer window are big for the club.

With Real or Bayern coming to town, they need to make sure they are as strong as possible from back to front.

Dortmund aside, Celtic have been competitive and adaptable throughout this campaign, and reaching the play-off round is just rewards for that.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Champions #League #Villa #Park #bedlam #sums #gripping #Celtic #campaign

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up