That’s a bitte pill to swallow
But Ange’s Bhoys are going places
ANGE POSTECOGLOU always feared it might be painful.
Not even he could have imagined it could have been this agonising.
The Celtic boss said there was only one way to find out where he’s got his Celtic team, a measurement.
Postecoglou also confessed it might hurt to find out but he probably didn’t mean this way. Although suffering the heartbreaking late loss which has put an end to the Europa League bid, he’ll feel he’s getting there.
Celtic were so close – eight minutes from becoming the first Parkhead team to win in Germany.
Josip Juranovic had the penalty duties recently taken off him. After a quite majestic Panenka, the Croat might now just hold on to the gig.
Chuck in Joe Hart and Jota delivering breathtaking moments after the interval to back up Juranovic and it almost added up to a quite fabulous night for boss and his players. But in the end it just wasn’t enough, two goals lost in the last eight minutes was shattering.
Given where they were when he took the job, if getting within a whisker of becoming the first Celtic side to win a European tie in Germany is any sort of barometer, the evidence says Postecoglou’s going the right way.
But to make an impact on the Continent Celtic will simply have tighten up. Nine goals lost in three away group games has killed them.
As gut-wrenching as it was, defeat is no cause for savage recrimination.
Postecoglou’s first defeat in 10 since Gerardo Seoane’s table-toppers won in Glasgow back in September was the most-likely pre-match outcome given Leverkusen have never lost a home Europa League group stage tie.
That Celtic almost won says much for their progress yet the loss still hurt and now it’s down the ladder.
Back-to-back victories over Ferencvaros had already secured the consolation of that Europa Conference play-off in February.
The defeat confirmed it as the next stop but for a long period last night it felt like this Group G dream might just stay alive. It was see-saw and it was absorbing.
Despite a heavy loss, Celtic had shown glimpses against Bayer in their home game and the hope was that they’d do the same again. They eventually did, even though the start was poor and they were behind after 16 minutes.
They had been warned. Robert Andrich had already headed just over from a Florian Wirtz delivery before he glanced beyond an exposed Hart.
It was an avoidable concession from Celtic and Wirtz milked it right in front of the noisy band of almost 2000 visiting fans. At that stage it felt a long way back.
One behind, Celtic had to get into the contest. Ticking past the half hour, Lukas Hradecky hadn’t been asked to make a save but when the keeper did finally get involved, he made an absolute howler to present Juranovic with his chance to cheekily level six minutes from half-time.
Home defender Jonathan Tah had cleared Jota’s cross but Hradecky was already fully committed to a flying punch and with no ball to connect,
he almost took Kyogo Furuhashi’s head off instead.
As the Japanese received treatment, referee Anastasios Sidiropolous was invited to have a look at VAR and that was only going to bring one outcome.
It was expected the Greek official would point to the spot. What wasn’t expected was what Juranovic did when he put the ball there. The Croat swaggered into a Panenka that kissed the underside of the bar on its way into the net. It was delicious and delightful.
If that was cool and classy, Juranovic’s next involvement was sloppy and slack as he allowed Moussa Diaby to rattle the bar.
When the rebound came back to Wirtz, he hit a post and Postecoglou’s men got to the break all square.
And it took an incredible save from Hart eight minutes after the restart to keep it that way. Diaby cracked the legs of the keeper with a shot and it bounced straight to Amine Adli who just had to walk it into the net. But Hart somehow scrambled across with fantastic agility and grasped the tap-in off the Frenchman.
If that was impressive, what happened next was incredible. Hart’s kick found Forrest who flicked to David Turnbull. Nir Bitton got involved and when Jeremie Frimpong slipped in the box cutting out the Israeli’s pass, Furuhashi rolled the ball to Jota.
The Portuguese had no thought of taking a touch and unleashed a brilliant left-foot finish to spark wild scenes among players and fans. In the blink of an eye, from looking set to go behind, Celtic were in front.
It became wide open. Juranovic almost presented Wirtz with a gift. Turnbull just failed to get
Forrest a one-on-one. Hart produced another save to thwart Adli. Bitton had to go off injured and Hart again broke Adli’s heart when a foot diverted another shot over. By that stage Jota and Furuhashi had been taken off to try to get fresh legs on and without them Postecoglou’s team couldn’t hold it up front or hold on. Anthony Ralston’s miscued clearance found Wirtz who returned it back over his head for sub Nadiem Amiri to cushion and Andrich to shoot through the Celtic keeper. Then the winner. Wirtz with a brilliant chip for Diaby to volley home three minutes from time. Hradecky’s save from Turnbull sealed the deal. Postecoglou knew it might be painful. Although maybe not this much.