Brendan Rodgers was left frustrated by the defensive lapse that allowed Harry Kane to score Bayern Munich’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Celtic at Parkhead. The Celtic boss revealed that he spoke to his players after the game, reminding them that if there was one player they couldn’t afford to give space to, it was Kane.
“I just said to the guys in there afterwards; ‘in our corners and everything else we’ve been very good, but one player you don’t leave unmarked is arguably the best striker in world football,’” Rodgers told Balls.ie.
After going one goal down on the stroke of halftime, Celtic’s concentration slipped just four minutes after the restart. A corner was swung in, and as Celtic’s defence hesitated, Kane drifted into space at the back post, where he calmly slotted home to put Bayern 2-0 up.
Rodgers was full of praise for the English striker’s finishing ability but couldn’t hide his frustration at the way Celtic allowed him to ghost into a dangerous area completely unchallenged.
“So Harry finishes it really well, 2-0, then we’ve got to make the changes but I thought in the last 25 minutes then we started to press the game… and you see what it brought.”
A Lesson for the Second Leg
After Kane’s goal, Celtic were forced to take more risks, and it nearly paid off as they pressed Bayern back in the final 25 minutes, with Daizen Maeda pulling a goal back late on. However, the defensive lapse proved costly, leaving Celtic with an uphill battle ahead of the second leg in Munich next week.
Rodgers will demand more awareness and discipline from his players at the Allianz Arena, knowing that Bayern—and Kane in particular—won’t hesitate to punish any further lapses in concentration.
Trusty allowed himself to pulled out of position far too easily far too often! He really is out of his depth in our colours!