Celtic’s Champions League hopes were extinguished in Kazakhstan as Brendan Rodgers’ side fell to a penalty shootout defeat against Kairat Almaty following a turgid 0-0 draw over two legs.
The match was a scrappy, slow-burning affair played out on a dreadful surface at the Almaty Central Stadium. While Celtic controlled possession for large spells, they failed to turn that dominance into clear-cut chances. When openings did arise, they were either wasted or met by firm goalkeeping from the home side.
Maeda had the best chance of the night, breaking clear late on but failing to control the ball, while McCowan and Hatate also came close during extra time. Despite flashes of promise, the Hoops lacked conviction in the final third and couldn’t find a way past a stubborn Kairat side who offered little going forward themselves.
Brendan Rodgers was left ruing a flat performance and missed opportunities. The Celtic boss, speaking post-match, didn’t hide his frustration after watching his side tumble out of Europe before the league phase once again.
He said: (Amazon Prime Video Sport), “I thought overall it was a poor game.
“The pitch made it awful. We were defensively okay but couldn’t quite make the breakthrough.
“We had good chances, especially in the second half and in extra-time we had opportunities to win it. When it goes to penalties anything can happen.
“Overall, very disappointed.”
The surface certainly played a part, but Rodgers will know the result speaks to wider issues. Celtic lacked precision in the final third and looked short of inspiration on the flanks. With the summer window nearing its end, questions will again be asked about the club’s readiness for the Champions League qualifiers.
Celtic’s penalty performance added insult to injury. Misses from Maeda, Idah and McCowan handed Kairat the initiative, and even a composed strike from McGregor wasn’t enough to turn the tide. This is the third time in four seasons the Hoops have failed to reach the league phase.
For all the possession and patient build-up, there was little to show. Players like Hatate and Forrest showed flickers, but the decisive moments never came. The shootout simply underlined a night where confidence and clinical edge were sorely lacking.
Rodgers must now turn his focus to the domestic front and the Europa League. But for a club of Celtic’s size and ambition, another early Champions League exit will sting, and questions over summer recruitment and European preparedness won’t go away.
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2 responses
Rodgers needs to stop pointing fingers at everyone and everything else. These mindgames he plays, trying to turn the focus away from himself when he fails are getting a bit old now!
These mindgames subtle hints that he needs this and that, meaning “the board aren’t giving me a blank cheque” might was with fans that don’t see through him, but they don’t wash with me!
I honestly believe he wants to go. So he should just go. He’s embarrassed that he failed to win a treble in either of the past two seasons, both even! So he’s miffed!
He went into that game tonight knowing we needed to win. So he started with our only three #9s on the bench! A pub team manager wouldn’t have done that! Russell Martin wouldn’t even have done it!
When did he introduce his first subs? After 75 minutes had past!
You certainly can’t blame the board for that!
Tonight the board didn’t cost Celtic £40M! Brendan Rodgers did!
We can blame the board, or at the very least those responsible for getting players in the door.. 8 months after selling our first choice striker with no replacement, sold Kuhn early in pre-season, not replacement. There is enough money in the bank that means we don’t have to sell before we buy. We were actually quite shrewd not so long ago… Johnston in before we sold Juranovic, Bernardo signed permanently before we sold O’Riley.. that is a proper practise on ensuring we don’t leave ourselves weakened. Bringing in players now regardless of whether we were still in the champions league or not it absurd… we should be getting players in to have a proper pre-season with the team and so we are better prepared for the season. Having to bed in 3 or 4 signings now the season has started is just ridiculous.
We knew Kyogo wanted to go, we knew Kuhn wanted to go, it is not unreasonable to expect replacements in the door before we sold them.
I agree the players in the building should have been good enough to win that Almaty tie by the time the first leg was over, however the manager has my sympathy.. you can work on shape and making a team solid all you like, but the attackers we lost have the attributes and skills you can’t coach, those need to be bought in or identified early on within the youth setup.
Once again the football club has been let down by the business.