The golden gift that was given to us last night against Real Madrid in the Bernabèu was too good an opportunity to be true. At 2-0 it would have got the heads up and we could have stayed in the game for far longer. All right, it probably wouldn’t have had a material impact on the outcome but 5-2 certainly sounds better than 5-1.
Giorgos Giakoumakis missed a penalty at Livingston as Josip Juranovic was not on the pitch that day in West Lothian. The big Greek is some poacher; he can sniff the goal and more often than not, he converts like great penalty box strikers do. His haul in the Eredivisie was something else considering VVV-velo were headed for the relegation to the second tier.
But it’s not the first time he has missed from the penalty spot, having ironically repeated the feat against David Martindale’s side last campaign at Celtic Park in the cinch Premiership. So it would be safe to say he’s not the greatest penalty taker in the world. For me, it’s that short run up that never seems to quite bode well with whomever decides to use that particular technique.
So it fell to Croatia international Josip Juranovic to slot the ball home from 12 yards out in Madrid. He duly stepped up, although he hit the ball at an ideal height for any goalkeeper, never mind the best one in the world at present – arguably. But he failed to convert and as a result, we squandered a major opportunity to keep pace with Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
With Juranovic missing a penalty directly after Giakoumakis missing at the weekend, there is always that nagging doubt you have as to whether or not there is an issue developing with our team and penalties. Truth be told, I have never been confident with Celtic regards penalties for years. And not since Fraser Forster have I been confident of stopping them either.
Although this is about scoring them. I just hope beyong all hope it was just a coincidence that we’ve missed two in succession so close together. It can be a real issue penalties as evidenced with Manchester City at present and they are supposedly the best team on the planet. Real are also quite good just to add on that point.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if it is just a minor blip or there is something more psychological hidden under the surface with our penalty takers. Regardless, we won’t find out soon anyway, because we never get enough of them domestically to be able to judge it relatively quickly!
Paul Gillespie
Share your lack of confidence about Celtic scoring from penalties. I have been watching Celtic for over 60 years and reckon our penalties conversion rate is sround 50%. I certainly don’t get excited when we are awarded one. In fact I am amazed about the amount of players and fans who celebrate penalty awards.