It’s been 7 years since Celts got to last 16 in Europe...
EUROPA LEAGUE LIVE Mikel’s misfiring Gunners are left counting the Kos ARSENAL ....... 1 OLYMPIAKOS..2 ANALYSIS
THE honeymoon is over for Mikel Arteta.
Youssef El Arabi’s lastgasp strike for Olympiakos made sure of that – sending Arsenal crashing out in the cruellest way possible.
It had looked so much like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would save Arteta when the Gunners skipper struck a spectacular overhead kick in extra time.
That cancelled out Pape Abou Cisse’s opener and put Arsenal back in front in the tie – but after El Arabi’s crucial away goal, Aubameyang then missed a sitter.
SCOTT BROWN strolled into the centre circle with possession.
Suddenly, he was surrounded by four Copenhagen stars. It was like he’d been ambushed.
By the end of the evening, it felt exactly the same for the entire Celtic team.
Normally, Brown barrels opponents out of the way and emerges on the other side with his chest out and the ball at his feet.
This time, he had been sacked and was left scurrying back trying to nip the latest counterattack from Copenhagen in the bud.
That moment epitomised Celtic’s evening.
The rest of Neil Lennon’s team also scurried and harried for the 90 minutes – but the end result was the same for them.
This was not in the script.
BY CRAIG SWAN AT CELTIC PARK
Celtic didn’t expect to go out of Europe – and certainly not in this manner.
No European team had been able to keep them off the scoresheet in front of their own fans at Parkhead this season in seven previous ties.
Stale Solbakken’s Danish champions didn’t manage it either, but they did match the Hoops’ Champion League conquerors Cluj by winning in Paradise to send the Scottish champs spinning out of the competition.
It was so sore because it was so unexpected – and self inflicted.
Just as on that August night when Cluj ended the Hoops’ Champions League dreams at the qualifying stage, lapses by Lennon’s side at the back proved fatal.
There wasn’t four on this occasion. Just a couple. But that was all it took.
To be fair, the first one was an absolute howler – and how Christopher Jullien must have been absolutely sickened by it.
The Frenchman talked the talk before kick-off and for the first 50 minutes last night, he walked the walk.
Unfortunately, his central defensive side-kick Jozo Simunovic struggled to put one foot in front of the other at times. Built of brick, the Croat should have been dealing with the situation which led to the opener for the Danes in the same clinical way Jullien had been dealing with dangerman Dame N’Doye.
Further punishment followed in the latter stages as the roof fell in just when Lennon’s men thought they had got back into it, but this was the first, crucial hesitation.
It capped a feeling of unease and left them vulnerable to being mugged in exactly the way Brown had been on the halfway line.
Usually it is Celtic who are climbing all over opponents.
Lazio took the lead in this stadium and were unable to withstand the force which came their way as Celtic came charging back at them.
This time, though, the Danes