Last night Celtic sustained their heaviest defeat under Ange Postecoglou so far in a competitive match, as the German side Bayer Leverkusen put 4 past them on match-day 2 in the Europa League group G.
There was some hope going into this Europa League tie, as it was the first group stage game back at home with the fans in nearly two years. This hope was exceeded when the line ups came out and fans saw the premature return of captain Callum McGregor and Kyogo Furuhashi.
Celtic almost got off to the worst possible start, as Leverkusen had two shots on target and a disallowed goal after just 60 seconds. If Celtic didn’t already know they were in for a tough evening, they did now.
One long ball up the pitch by Carter-Vickers and a mistake from the Leverkusen defence and Kyogo was in on goal, he rounded the keeper before an excellent challenge from Jonathan Tah denied a certain goal.
That was the theme for most of the first half, you attack and then we’ll attack, almost like a game of basketball. Celtic had their fair share of chances, Kyogo going close with a one on one forcing a good save from Lukas Hradecky, Starfelt also went close from a corner.
The deadlock was finally broken after 25 minutes when David Turnbull was caught in two minds whether to clear the ball or leave it and in the end slipped, this turned out to be a pivotal moment in the game as the onslaught from the German side followed.
Rather than make amends for his error, the mistake seemed to live with Turnbull throughout the entire game, where he and Tom Rogic never linked up well in Ange’s high pressing midfield.
Leverkusen made it two with teenage sensation Florian Wirtz grabbing his second goal in the Europa League this season. The game was looking out of sight for Celtic with mistake after mistake, especially in the defence. Joe Hart kept the scoreline down, but the game seemed to be won at half time.
Celtic came out in the second half flying, dominating. Kyogo went close yet again, but it was the Leverkusen man of the match, Lukas Hradecky who denied him. The Finish keeper was really showing his quality in this game. When it looked like Celtic may get back into the game and possibly start a revival, Leverkusen were awarded a penalty. Carter-Vickers was penalised for a handball.
Lucas Alario converted from the spot to cancel out any chance of a revival. Leverkusen looked comfortable from this moment onwards and hardly broke a sweat.
Celtic gave a debut to new striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, he didn’t have much time to make a real impact.
Leverkusen put the icing on the cake in the last kick of the game when they broke away on the counter attack and Amiri fed Amine Adli for his first goal for his new club. This was a statement of intent for the Germans who will be one of the favorites to go on to lift the trophy.
It was a game that Celtic on another day easily could have scored four or five, but it was also thanks to Joe Hart that the scoreline stayed at just the four. Too many individual mistakes cost Celtic last night. Ange’s style of play was questioned by pundits in the BT studio when Paul Lambert and Neil Lennon thought that Celtic aren’t good enough to play out from the back in these games.
The first two goals were down to individual errors, the third being a penalty and the fourth was just players switching off in the final minutes.
Celtic now have back to back games against an old enemy in Ferencvaros after the international break, Celtic will need to realistically get two wins from two if they have any aspirations of qualifying from this group. Leverkusen and Betis sit pretty at the top of group G with 6 points each.
Adam Lynch
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