Milan beat Celtic as Rangers dump Liege
Steven Gerrard said members of the Standard Liege coaching staff lacked‘ class and humility’ in the angry post-match scenes which marred R angers’ outstanding 2- 0 Europa League victory in Belgium.
Players and officials from both clubs clashed after the home side took exception to Kemar Roofe’s celebration of his wonder goal from inside his own half which clinched all three points for Rangers in stoppage time of the Group D opener.
Standard appeared to be riled by the former Anderlecht striker making an ‘ A’ sign in front of some of the 3,750 fans allowed inside the Stade Maurice Dufrasne. But it’s a celebration Ro ofe has marked his goals with throughout his career, long before he had a spell in Belgian football.
R angers manager Gerrard believes the booking Roofe received from Danish referee Jakob Kehlet was sufficient sanction. He said: “That’s the problem when you get a couple of their staff members who get over-excited and don’t handle themselves with class and humility.
“The Kemar situation was for me to deal with. I would have had a quiet word with him. But he was lost in the moment and had just scored the best goal of his career so far. He has been punished for what he did and that should have been the end of it.
“When the dust settles Standard Liege will be disappointed in how they reacted. But we move and we will welcome them to Ibrox with class and look forward to that.
Rangers now face an anxious wait for UEFA match delegate Jovan Surbatovic to file his report before they discover if there will be any further disciplinary action.
“I can't control what comes our way from that,” added Gerrard. “I don't think I'd describe what happened as ugly. That's too harsh. It was a little something or nothing. They were disappointed in Kemar's celebration but Kemar was punished for that and that's for me to deal with."
Celtic lost 3-1 at home to AC Milan in Group H but manager Neil Lennon believed there was “a lot to be encouraged about”.
Ra de K runic and Bra him Diaz scored for Milan in the first half and Mohamed Elyounoussi reduced the deficit with a 76 th-minute header before and Jens Petter Hauge’s clincher.
Lennon told BT Sport: “We de served better from the game. There wasn’t much in the first half – we conceded two soft goals from our point of view – second half we were terrific.”
The defeat came on the back of the 2- 0 Old Firm defeat by R angers and Lennon added: "The response and the reaction was a lot better. Our body language and energy were so much better.
"I’ m still not happy about losing the game and losing at home, but there’s a lot to be encouraged about.”
Celtic may have fallen short of a dramatic comeback against Milan last night.
Ultimately Mohamed Elyounoussi’s 76th minute glancing header from a Ryan Christie corner was incidental with an added time strike by Jens Petter Hauge condemning them to a 3-1 defeat.
Yet, their second-half display as they attempted to recover a two-goal deficit - save for the Norwegian sub squeezing the ball in as Shane Duffy and Vasilis Barkas became entangled - may have borne witness to one telling comeback.
Celtic turned the flow of this tie because Neil Lennon turned away from 3-5-2 and reverted to 4-2-3-1.
Maybe it is too simplistic to see the complete turnaround in the encounter as a change of shape, which meant Leigh Griffiths giving way for Elyounoussi and Ryan Christie coming on for Stephen Welsh.
Yet it is undeniable that the home side did not look so softcentred across the second 45 minutes - their undoing in the first period.
Lennon certainly could not be accused of letting a desperate situation drift. As he was in Saturday’ s derby defeat. He also withdrew his captain Scott Brown after the hour. Just about the time that a seemingly sitting pretty Milan hauled off a completely anonymous Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
For the closing stages, Celtic forced Milan to defend their box. They were able to do that in a manner their opponents could no tina curious first period.
A firsts tar tforG riff iths in seven months, and a first partnership with Albian Ajeti from the opening whistle, was a sign that Lennon would look for more upfront that was produced against Rangers.
True of Celtic in all departments after Lennon conceded his team were too“passive ”. Exhibiting bite and drive from the off, it was patent that they were seeking to atone for the anodyne nature of their derby loss.
Within five minutes they contrived what had eluded them for 90 minutes at the weekend: a shot on target.
An Ajeti snapshot from the edge of the area was blocked by Milan captain Alessio Romagnoli - amid handball claims - before an Olivier Ntcham drive was comfortably held by keeper Gianlugi Donnarumma.
The bright start was undone by the vulnerabilty that Celtic seem to be developing to balls hoisted into the box.
From a similar position on the left that Rangers’ freekick for their first goal was delivered, Samuel Castillejo launched a cross that R ade Krunic got between Duffy and Welsh to head wide of Barkas.
Celtic’ s confidence then b egan to fray, and as Milan grew into the encounter they started to put themselves under pressure was misplaced passes.
They lived dangerously before Milan’ skill er second just before the inter val. A move that broke down left Celtic’s stretched as Theo Hernan dez powered down the left before cutting a ball inside that found Brahim Diaz able to sidestep Duffy and Callum Mcgregor before drilling in.
Following Elyoun no ussi’ s goal, Celtic pressed for an equaliser, but they were caught out at the back in added time as Milan sealed their victory with a third goal.
Substitute Jens Petter Hauge got in behind the home side’s defence when he ran on to a ball from fellow replacement Alexis Saelemaekers, resisted Shane Duffy’s attempt to thwart him, and steered his low shot beyond Barkas
The avoidance of a pasting, however, will offer a certain relief.
In the other game in the group, Lille stunned ten-man Sparta Prague 4-1 in the Czech Republic.
Celtic: Barkas; Frimpong, Welsh (Elyounoussi 46), Duffy, Ajer, Laxalt (Taylor 77); Ntcham, Brown (Rogic 64), Mcgregor; Ajeti (Klimala 77), Griffiths (Christie 46).
Subs Not Used: Soro, turn bull,bain,h ender son, hazard, d em be le.
AC Milan: Donnarumma; Dalot, Romagnoli, Kjaer, Theo Hernandez; Krunic, Tonali, Kessie (Bennacer 66); Castillejo (Saelemaekers 79), Ibrahimovic (Leao 66), Brahim Diaz (Hauge 79). Subs Not Used: Tatarusanu, calabria, conti, kalulu Kyatengwa, maldi ni, colombo, antonio Donna rum ma.