Celts hand Barca a break with another Ambrose howler
CELTIC 1
Griffiths (29)
BARCELONA 3
Turan (11) Ambrose (og,30) Mohamed (40)
TIME alone will tell what, if any, effect this splendid inconvenience of a game will have on the Hoops’ chances of reaching the Champions League group stages.
For fans and pros alike, playing Barca is a treat to be savoured with Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, especially in mid- summer, a highly agreeable venue.
When it is a glamour friendly sandwiched between two legs of a crucial European qualifier against a strong Astana side, more than capable of dispatching the Hoops, things become tricky.
Here, in a front of a crowd of over 47,000, Brendan Rodgers was forced to balance pragmatism against the club’s contractual obligations. A task he did pretty well, ending the night with virtually a B-team on the pitch.
At the start, though it was all about stars and none bigger than Lionel Messi, even more distinctive than ever with his newly- bleached blonde locks.
Celtic have diminutive stars of their own and it was Patrick Roberts who sparkled in the early stages.
Twice in the first 10 minutes the little winger scampered in from the right and flashed efforts just wide of Barca keeper Jordi Lopez.
The temerity they showed in going straight on the front foot was punished by the Catalans who showed their opponents how it was done by scoring with their first attack of note.
Aleix Vidal was the provider, cleverly nutmegging James Forrest on the by- line to give himself space before rolling a pass back inside to Arda Turan, who was lurking with intent at the edge of the box.
The Turk, a near £35 million-plus buy from Atletico Madrid last season, had done well to lose Nir Bitton who was patrolling the area, and made the most of his space, setting himself before curling a shot high into the top corner of the net.
Having showed the good side of their game, the La Liga champions then displayed the bad when gifting Celtic an equaliser.
Defender Jose Martinez wasn’t done many favours by his keeper when given the ball in the middle of a Hoops press.
His first touch, though, was an absolute shocker, rebounding a dozen yards off his shin straight into the path of Leigh Griffiths who rifled home to make it 1-1.
Calamity lay just around the corner for Celtic, too, and to no one’s great surprise it was Efe Ambrose who was left shaking his head ruefully.
Facing his goal but with no Barca players around him, the Nigerian should not have been too troubled by Juan Camara’s low ball in from the left .
He obviously either didn’t get a shout from his keeper Craig Gordon, or didn’t hear it, because he slid in and succeeded only in turning the ball into his own net.
That wasn’t to be the end of the misery for Ambrose either. He was also to have a cameo role in Barcelona’s slick third goal shortly before the interval.
He found himself dragged wide right when a move involving Messi had sprung Luis Suarez free in behind.
To be fair, his position looked alright but the former Liverpool hero was too good, firing in a cross between Ambrose’s legs to leave Munir Mohamed a simple task to score.
If the half time score line seemed a little harsh that was because it was.
Barca had had only three shots on target yet left the pitch with three goals to their credit.
They were the better team: their 63% of possession compared to that of 37% for Celtic, told you that much. It was just they hadn’t really had to work much for their breaks.
With Astana up next, half time was always going to bring a slew of substitutions for Celtic and so it proved.
Off went Craig Gordon, Scott Brown, Roberts, Bitton, Callum McGregor, Eoghan O’Connell and Griffiths.
On came Leo Fasan, Rogic, Nadir Ciftci, Scott Allan, Stuart Armstrong, Kris Ajer and Moussa Dembele.
Barca, by contrast, made just one change but it was one which drew a collective groan from the crowd with Ballon D’Or winner Lionel Messi making way for Sergi Samper.
Many more changes were to follow on the hour from both teams but it made little difference, the game as a contest having been settled by their predecessors.