Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Zend of the road
Hoops shoot themselves in foot yet again as Dutch keeper Dorus has night to forget
OUTSIDE the punters were able to walk across frozen rivers.
But inside the Krestovsky Stadium, the ice shattered easily under Celtic’s feet and plunged them into a pool of bitter Europa League pain.
It started badly in the Baltic port and went downhill rapidly.
Brendan Rodgers’ backline offered Branislav Ivanovic a gift-wrapped 33rd birthday present for the opener and Dorus De Vries let Daler Kuzyaev bag a second before half an hour had elapsed.
Any faint hopes vanished like snow off that heated roof when more sloppiness let Russian golden boy Aleksandr Kokorin finish it on the hour and get the inquest underway. It will be a sombre one within the camp.
Celtic’s cultured win over the Russians last week also looked a big step in the right direction.
Last night, though, so much felt like the bad old days.
Rodgers had opted for an unchanged starting line-up from the first leg.
It was hard to argue given the dominance which his team had displayed in Glasgow yet they were nowhere near those levels and the game was barely underway when that first-leg lead was wiped out.
A Leandro Paredes shot was turned around a post by De Vries and the Argentine wandered over to deliver the set- piece. What followed was horrific. Kristoffer Ajer was too easily blocked off, Jozo Simunovic didn’t get around to cover and Ivanovic, back in the team after an eye injury, scored with what looked like a saveable free header.
If De Vries had reason to question his backline at the loss of the opener, they were staring right back at him when Kuzyaev shot home a second.
Before that crushing below, Kokorin had a weak effort at De Vries and Paredes swung an ambitious free-kick attempt high over the bar.
But when Kuzyaev got one on target, the Dutchman was lost. Deceived by swerve, the strike from outside the box raged past him into the centre of the net.
It was another nightmare of a goal to lose and Rodgers stood almost stunned on the touchline.
By half-time, Celtic had still not forced keeper Andrey Lunev into any work, with encouragement now replaced by familiar feelings of dread and anguish.
Tom Rogic was launched into the fray after the break, almost instantly hitting a shot over after replacing Kouassi Eboue.
Ajer missed a chance with a header from an Olivier Ntcham corner but before any momentum could build, the almost inevitable third goal came on the hour.
Kokorin got in behind Mikael Lustig at the far post to finish off Ivanovic’s cross.
That was it gone. Ntcham’sm 67th-minute effort from distance was Celtic’s first on target but the damage had been done.
Celtic had already taken an ice pick to their own hopes.