Giorgos Giakoumakis led the line brilliantly for Celtic last night in the Champions League and joined only Jota on the goalscoring charts at this level for Celtic (if you discount the Reo Hatate effort in Warsaw against last night’s opposition that was credited as an own goal, rather harshly, by UEFA).
The chances Celtic have created in this campaign are remarkable but not as astonishing as the misses that followed. Had Celtic shown the same percentage chance conversion rate as last night’s opponents then we’d probably have finished top rather than bottom of Group F.
The principal dilemma that Ange Postecoglou had in these matches was which striker should lead the line and both the Greek international striker and also Kyogo have had their chances with both starting last night.
In the previous match James Forrest replaced Liel Abada in the first half against RB Leipzig and looked much more effective. That form continued with a hat-trick against Hibs and a goal against Hearts at the weekend but in the end the Celtic manager opted to start with the young Israeli star. That might be a call that Ange in retrospect reckons he got wrong.
The harsh reality though is that Celtic missed too many chances over the five games and as a result exited European football for another season.
“We are disappointed. We dreamt bigger, including wanting to get to the next stage,” Giakoumakis said. “Unfortunately, we have had some good performances but could not combine them with good results, wins or more points. That is why we only have two points and did not go through,” Celtic’s goalscorer against Shakhtar Donetsk told BT Sport.
“I cannot say I am happy, even when you score your first goal in the Champions League, which you dream about from when you are a little boy.
“In the end you cannot be happy because you want to succeed more with your team. We should be celebrating today, and unfortunately, we are not once more. We gave everything and have to move forward.
“It is clear if we want to be in the biggest competition in Europe again, then we must win the league. That is our first target again, and then next year, we can play some games again in the Champions League. Of course, we are planning from these games, we need to correct our mistakes so we can come back bigger next season.”
Mixed emotions for Georgios Giakoumakis 🙃
The draw against Shakhtar Donetsk means Celtic aren’t progressing in the #UCL pic.twitter.com/LGgiuJ4LtF
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 25, 2022
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