CHRIS SUTTON’S delight at Celtic’s 95th minute winner in Rome on Thursday night was criticised today by his fellow BT Pundits Paul Ince and Robbie Savage.
The former Hoops striker seemed to lose the plot completely – like every other Celtic supporter at the game in Rome to watching around the world on TV – when Olivier Ntcham dinked the ball over the Lazio keeper to send Celtic into the knock-out rounds of the Europa League and to give the club its first ever victory on Italian soil in a competitive match.
Here’s what happened today when the BT Sport Pundits looked back somewhat grudgingly on Celtic famous win in the Eternal City.
“Lennon and Gerrard in Europe have been phenomenal!”
A huge week for Celtic and Rangers in the Europa League and @Chris_Sutton73 was head over heels!#EarlyKickOff pic.twitter.com/La41V7GF30
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 9, 2019
Savage of course enjoys a bit of sparring with Sutton – it’s BT Sport’s answer to a Punch and Judy Show and is usually mildly amusing. Ince though isn’t remotely funny, just negative and a even touch nasty. He’s not really a very likeable character is he? Certainly not judging by the response his outburst had had on social media today, which are too rude to quote here.
“What are you excited about?” Ince asked Sutton. “They only got past the group stages. It wasn’t a cup final, was it?
“I thought they’d won the cup final the way you were going on.”
Sutton took the opportunity to praise Celtic again for the fantastic 2-1 win over the Italian giants.
“I thought the character Celtic showed in the second half…they were the better team.
“There were doubts about Neil Lennon’s ability going back in as Celtic manager and he’s done so well,” adding that he reckons his old teammate has been “phenomenal” in Europe this season, while also praising the Rangers to this fellow studio guests that also included former England striker Michael Owen.
Meanwhile some bad news from the game in Rome emerged this afternoon as Hatem Abd Elhamed alerted the support that he’s had some bad news and is now looking at a spell on the sidelines. The defender injured himself stretching to clear a ball late in the game on Thursday evening before being replaced by Nir Bitton.
Neil Lennon admitted that the Elhamed would be unlikely to feature against Motherwell tomorrow at Celtic Park but it now looks like he is set for an extended lay-off.
The message Elhamed posted in Instagram stated: “Bad news this morning but I will be back stronger. Thank god always.”
Moritz Bauer came on for James Forrest for the final few minutes and could be in line for some game-time, however Jeremie Frimpong, who missed out in the Europa League action as he was not named in the initial squad, is likely to play tomorrow.
Hopefully Elhamed is back quickly especially with the intense December schedule which includes two matches against the Rangers, including a Cup Final.
Another former Celtic striker, Frank McAvennie has been outlining his thoughts on recent events and in particular he is being extremely positive about Celtic’s chances in the Betfed Cup Final but reckons that there’s little to no chance of one Celtic Star making an impact in the foreseeable future, see HERE.
And talking about former Celtic strikers, Larry Cafiero, Celtic’s American Blogger, looks back on Harry Hood’s time in the States in his excellent article ‘Harry Hood: Bringing the Thunder,’ which you can read HERE.
ALSO ON THE CELTIC STAR…
The ‘Brought it on Themselves’ Media Narrative – ‘Celtic fans, victims but it was their own fault’
Celtic v Motherwell Preview – I’ve a feeling we’ll see a rather entertaining encounter
