European progression is not miles away for Rodgers and Celtic…
Celtic fans left Paradise last night with mixed emotions. A good result against one of the best teams in Europe, but an inkling feeling remained that Celtic’s first home win in European football’s premier club competition in ten years was within touching distance, for the second game in a row.
Brendan Rodgers team selection threw up no surprises, with Luis Palma given his first start in the Champions League off the back of an impressive start in Glasgow’s East End.
An extremely impressive first half performance, in which Rodgers men played arguably the best half of football the Celtic support had watched on a European night in the modern era. His side deservedly led at the break against a rattled Atletico Madrid, a word almost never used to describe Diego Simeone’s well drilled warriors.
The Madrid club came back out for the second half with a point to prove. The second half substitutions of Rodrigo Riquelme and Marcos Llorente had a significant impact on the game, in particular the latter who provided an inch perfect cross to set up Alvaro Morata for the equaliser after Greg Taylor, already on a yellow, chose not to engage in a fifty-fifty challenge. It proved to be a costly decision by the Celtic left-back.
A second half where Celtic had to survive, epitomised by the number of shots taken by both sides in the half, with Rodgers’ side managing just one compared to Atletico’s eight. In retrospect, the second half petered out in comparison to its predecessor.
The intensity and level Celtic played in that first half is just not sustainable over the course of a ninety-minute match, and I don’t doubt many people are debating that fact. Celtic dug in and picked up a result against a quality European side, something that they have failed to do on so many occasions in the past decade.
Players stood out, attacking wise in particular with Palma, O’Riley and Kyogo showing they have the quality to impact games at this level. Defensively Celtic were more than competent, with the centre half pairing of Cameron Carter Vickers and Liam Scales defying those who doubted them once again as they kept one of the most in-form players on the continent in Antoine Griezmann relatively quiet.
But still, a sense of what could have been remains. The second half substitution of James Forrest symbolises where Celtic are as a club currently. A stalwart of the club no doubt, but not someone who Rodgers should be relying on to make an impact in the Champions League at this stage of his career.
An impressive result and performance against one of Europe’s elite, but investment is needed if Celtic wish to take the next step in Europe’s top tier competition. But a victory at Europe’s top table is not miles away and hopefully it will come in this year’s Group stages.
James French
