CELTIC’S dreadful losing streak in the Champions League group stage resumed tonight at Parkhead, as they lost an injury time goal to a Lazio side they had outplayed and suffered an agonising defeat.
Brendan Rodgers’ men had gained a merited early lead against Maurizio Sarri’s charges, and Kyogo Furuhashi’s strike sent the bulk of the sell-out crowd inside the packed Glasgow ground into raptures.
On the half-hour mark, Matias Vecino equalised from a corner after Liam Scales and Matt O’Riley failed to clear the ball.
The Scottish champions, on the other hand, controlled the Italians after that, and substitute Luis Palma scored with nine minutes remaining to give them their first victory since beating Anderlecht away in 2017.
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However, the effort was ruled offside after a lengthy VAR review, and their misery was compounded in the 95th minute when Pedro Rodriguez headed beyond Joe Hart following a counter attack.
Here are five key takeaways from the Group E meeting.
Before the first Group E encounter against Feyenoord in Rotterdam last month, Rodgers told Furuhashi that if he scored in the Champions League on a continuous basis, he could achieve the same kind of legendary status as his famous Celtic predecessor Henrik Larsson.
Clearly, the Japanese internationalist was paying heed. In his seventh appearance, he opened his account in Europe’s top club competition, finishing off a beautiful attack in the 12th minute.
Daizen Maeda, his countryman, cut inside from the right wing and fed Matt O’Riley on the edge of the visitors’ penalty box. The playmaker played a fantastic first-time ball through to his teammate, who held his cool and tucked between Ivan Provedel’s legs.
It’s safe to assume the attacker, as well as his Celtic teammates and the audience, relished the moment. It had taken a long time. The £4.6 million man was unable to add another. Nonetheless, he will gain confidence from getting started.
BEST NATIONAL
Cameron Carter-Vickers returned to the Celtic team for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury against Aberdeen at Pittodrie in August tonight, but he was deemed unable to start.
As a result, Nat Phillips, the Liverpool loanee who came off the bench in the second half of the clinching Premiership encounter against Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday, started alongside Liam Scales.
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The 26-year-old centre defender had previous Champions League group stage experience, having played for his parent club in the competition on multiple occasions, notably at home against Real Madrid.
But shackling Lazio talisman Ciro Immobile was asking a lot of Phillips, who had played less than 90 minutes of competitive football since January. He did, however, intercept a Luis Alberto pass to the Roman icon early on and handled him well after that. He had nothing to do with the Vecino leveller.
Just before halftime, he was booked by Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas for a harsh challenge on Immobile. That meant he had to be cautious.
After an hour, he was replaced by Carter-Vickers to a standing ovation.
LEARNING CURVE YANG
Yang Hyun-jun has shown remarkable promise since joining Celtic from Gangwon in his native South Korea in July. So much so that he was favoured out wide this evening over his fellow new kid Luis Palma.
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Yang made his competition debut in the De Kuip, replacing Maeda with eight minutes remaining when his team was down to nine men and the match was lost. Starting versus Lazio was a far more difficult task.
The 21-year-old’s application was flawless. However, he was unable to disturb the opposing defence, put custodian Provedel to the test, or create an opening for his teammates to exploit.
He did, though, win a free kick from which Reo Hatate nearly scored in the second half. Palma took his position and will benefit much from the experience.
PALMA FACE
Celtic deserved the goal scored by substitute Palma with nine minutes remaining in regulation time. They had besieged the Lazio goal for long of the second half and appeared to have gotten their just rewards.
Rumsas ruled it for offside following a lengthy VAR review because a replay revealed Maeda had a touch.
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