CELTIC
THE outcome of Group C may have been settled before last night’s dead-rubber but there were still points to prove and Patrick Roberts made his loud and clear.
Pep Guardiola was not around when the Manchester City forward was shipped out on loan to Celtic in January 2015 following his £11million move from Fulham.
But the 19-year-old served a timely reminder of his talents, opening the scoring for Brendan Rodgers’ side before Kelechi Iheanacho levelled to leave honours even.
This match was inconsequential for the outcome of Group C with the dust settled – City in second and Celtic bottom – but try telling Roberts and Guardiola that.
And if the Spaniard did not want reminding of City’s continuing defensive frailties – they have now gone seven games without keeping a clean sheet and five in Europe – he certainly did not want the reminder coming from a player he has out on loan.
For Roberts this was a timely reminder of his skills. On a night when another Fulham old boy Moussa Dembele was the one scouts came to watch, it was Roberts who shone brighter.
After the unsettling events of the weekend against Chelsea, City needed a calm start but found themselves behind after five minutes.
And it will have been particularly sweet for Roberts that he was able to provide such an early reminder on his Etihad debut of what his parent club have been missing – for all that he received a bit of a helping hand to do so.
City’s defence, which started with three stretched across in front of Willy Caballero and Leroy Sane and Pablo Maffeo operating as wing backs, took no time at all to shoot themselves in the foot.
Just five minutes were on the clock when Caballero fired an outof-control pass on the left to Sane, which he managed to keep in only for Roberts to steal the ball and advance towards goal. After twisting past Gael Clichy, he slammed a shot past Caballero inside the far post.
Guardiola greeted the collective blunder with a howl of annoyance on the touchline, spinning angrily on his converse trainers in his technical area. Fortunately for his from James Forrest put the ball on a plate for Dembele but he could only hit the side-netting.
It was a lively first half and one not without further chances for City. Iheanacho was expertly robbed by Jozo Simunovic when he was shaping to shoot on 17 minutes.
The City striker also shot wide and just failed to hook a cross from Fernando from behind him, deflecting the ball fine across the face of goal.
Gundogan had the ball in the net turning in Jesus Navas’s centre from the right after 67 minutes but he had just strayed offside.
Celtic also went close twice, Gary Mackay-Smith blasting over from 15 yards with 10 minutes to go.
A draw was about fair on a night which lacked cutting edge but nevertheless did not lack meaning in the wider context of what is to come.
MAN CITY (4-3-3): Booked: CELTIC Booked: Referee: Goal: NEXT UP: