Ferland Mendy's late stunner gives Real Madrid edge over 10-man Atalanta
“Our idea is to attack for 90 minutes,” the Atalanta centre-back Cristian Romero had said on the eve of this match. Instead, down to 10 men early, he and his exhausted teammates found themselves trying to defend for almost as long. They almost made it too. But as the finish line drew close, reward for their resistance, they were finally shot down.
From a little outside the area, off a short corner, the left-back Ferland Mendy bent in a brilliant shot that gave Real Madrid a 1-0 away win that had looked like it might evade them. As it hit the net, there was relief for the first Spanish team to win in this round. For the Italian club, who had just made their last change, trying to hang on to a valuable draw, it was cruel.
This wasn’t the way either of them had anticipated it, and Mendy wasn’t the man anyone had foreseen delivering the decisive moment. “I didn’t expect such a quiet night,” the Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois admitted; nor, he said, did he expect it to be only one goal once Madrid had a man more. And yet there was something familiar about the formula: a clean sheet and a defensive player eventually scoring via a set play to put them in a good position to progress.
“We found it hard to get the goal and it wasn’t a great game but we got a good result and away,” Zinedine Zidane said. All the more so with an injury list so long that they could not even fill their bench, just one outfield firstteamer sitting on it.
The game as it had been designed lasted only 16 minutes, until Tobias Stieler sent off Remo Freuler. Freuler, who departed down the tunnel alone shaking his head, had fouled Mendy as he dashed towards the Atalanta area. The referee’s judgment that it was a clear goalscoring opportunity was as debatable as it was damaging. To be reduced to 10 men so early hurts any team; for one constructed so collectively, competing man-to-man everywhere and at a speed that suffocates opponents, it is even worse.
Madrid had ridden the rhythm until then, keeping possession where they could and trying to slow the game, conscious that this is a two-legged tie and in three weeks’ time some of their nine absentees will have returned. With Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, that is a workable plan and an extra man helped them to take an even firmer hold, although Gian Piero Gasperini’s side initially sought to maintain that pace, Joakim Maehle horribly skewing a shot as he ran in at the far post.
Madrid slowly took a step up, aware
that the original blueprint could now be improved upon: this was a game to win, not just to survive. If that was not without its risks, Nacho sliding in to deny Luis Muriel soon after, those were limited and in the final minutes of the half chances appeared. Isco shot wide from Modric’s pass, Vinícius’s effort was deflected over, and Marco
Asensio headed into Pierluigi Gollini’s hands.
At the other end, Muriel reminded everyone that this might not be easy, first turning to shoot wide and then going down in a challenge with Lucas Vázquez. The shouts for a penalty echoed loud but were not entertained by the referee. Madrid then took a familiar route to goal just before the break: this time, though, Kroos’s dead ball and Casemiro’s header yielded a close-range save from Gollini.
Briefly, Atalanta’s keeper found Madrid’s players getting nearer. He could only watch as Modric’s shot squirmed slowly wide of his post. Next Rafael Tolói had to dive to head away. And then Vinícius somehow lifted his shot over the bar. All of those came inside six minutes of the second half starting and inside the six-yard box.
And yet, while Atalanta tired, thereafter they managed to keep Madrid at arm’s length.
Opportunities were fewer: on the hour Madrid had taken 12 shots but only two on target. Zidane sought a finisher, someone to reach the crosses and the loose balls, and sent on Mariano Díaz but that didn’t help either. Nor did the turn to the 19-year-old Sergio Arribas and the 21-year-old Hugo
Duro.
There was not much imagination, which is a recurring accusation, and Atalanta grew in confidence even as they ran low on gas. They shouldn’t have. A Kroos shot flew wide from distance and that was it, until a short corner found Mendy with five minutes to go.
For a number of months it has been more about how Celtic extricate themselves from such a dismal position than how they got there. As Ross County delivered a final blow to Neil Lennon on Sunday, it was pointed out the struggling Dingwall club had replaced a manager in between bouncing Celtic out of the League Cup and this rather unsurprising Premiership result. The Celtic board were portrayed as dallying dunces.
Awful recruitment and an unhealthy focus on the all-consuming pursuit of 10 domestic titles in a row – so what? – ultimately led to Celtic’s behind-closed-doors implosion. Celtic’s hierarchy should have sensed trouble when Ferencvaros dumped the side out of the Champions League, with subsequent decisions to stick with the management team limiting options for succession and eventually leaving Lennon in a dire position. Failure to win 11 of 30 league games thus far is extraordinary given the general paucity of opposition. An earlier refusal to sell key assets, in a departure from Celtic’s business model, was with a view to preserving domestic dominance but allowed unrest to fester.
Football doesn’t work this way but someone, somewhere should tell the Celtic supporters about the rationale attached to the disastrous – and expensive – signings of Shane Duffy, Vasilis
Barkas, Patryk Klimala and Albian Ajeti. These players aren’t the cause of Celtic’s fall from grace but they are symptomatic of the reasons behind it. With James Forrest injured Celtic have no available out-and-out winger, an astonishing scenario for a club which celebrates players in that position. Recruitment departments are vital in these restricted times; while the buck stops with Lennon, Celtic’s has failed spectacularly.
Good wishes delivered by power brokers won’t ease Lennon’s pain as he steps away. He is immersed in Celtic, a club he has previously managed to great success at home and in Europe. This collapse, rendered more stark by Rangers’ imperious form, will wound Lennon more than any of his noisy detractors. Week after week, he had no option but to defend a regime – his regime – that he knew was failing. Reactionary behaviour at the club is emphasised by the fact that had the result on Sunday been favourable, the manager would still be limping on until an inevitable summer parting of ways.
Lennon realised only too well that a rump of the Celtic support didn’t want him after Brendan Rodgers beat a hasty retreat for Leicester. Yet the supposed alternatives at that 2019 juncture were fanciful or a far bigger gamble. This time, with the campaign over in all but name for Celtic, there is scope to appropriately plan for next season. Hiring a coach now, with so little at stake, looks futile. The landscape will look different, including for potential employees, in May.
Rodgers was rare as an elite manager who required professional rehabilitation but had an affection for Celtic. The club again need that wow factor as they look to re-engage disillusioned followers. Eddie Howe would provide it, with the former Bournemouth manager quietly linked with Celtic for a number of months now. Whether Howe has any inclination to move north is open to conjecture, notwithstanding the persuasive – and financial – powers of Dermot Desmond.
Celtic require resource. Linked to that, they need someone capable of resolving a host of personnel issues by the time next season gets under way. Barkas’s inadequacy means goalkeeper is a glaring issue. So, too, centre-back as Duffy returns to Brighton and Christopher Jullien recovers from long-term injury. Both full-back areas are weak. The continued reliance on a creaking, 35-year-old Scott Brown in midfield is problematic. Ryan Christie, Odsonne Édouard and Kristoffer Ajer – sellable commodities – have little more than a year on their contracts, with values negatively affected by that, form and the pandemic. This isn’t the job for a rookie, even before the fiscal boost to Rangers available from potential Champions League qualification. Steven Gerrard’s domestic success at Rangers has arrived in season three of his tenure; Celtic have no such leeway.
It remains bizarre that Celtic wouldn’t move to allow Dominic McKay, their next chief executive, to leave the Scottish Rugby Union before the summer. Instead, McKay will start in the midst of this inevitable, huge overhaul. Celtic would rail against any notion that they are behind the times but they need to be a more modern, data-driven club. The scoffing reaction to the coach Gavin Strachan using an iPad by the side of the field during the defeat on Sunday is telling regarding wider attitudes in the Scottish game. Celtic’s necessary reset provides opportunity.
Contrary to popular belief, managing Celtic isn’t a soft option. The club’s scale and dependency on winning – the latter is not matched even by big clubs in England – make the role far from straightforward. Virtually automatic entry to European football in some form makes a job such as this hold appeal. Topple Rangers and a legacy is yours. Celtic are in the unusual position of having a decent window amid which to shape their future. They must use it wisely.