Celtic out of Europe after late double from Lazio’s Ciro Immobile
Brendan Rodgers bemoaned a lack of quality after Celtic’s interest in Europe ended with a 2-0 defeat in the Champions League by Lazio in Rome.
The Scottish champions went into the make-or-break game with one point from four Group E matches but were undone with two late goals from the home side’s classy substitute Ciro Immobile.
Celtic were awarded a penalty in added time for a push on the substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu inside the box but it was overturned when VAR intervened and sent the referee Halil Umut Meler to the pitchside monitor for another look. The Hoops – who were without Luis Palma, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Liel Abada through suspension or injury – will finish bottom in their Champions League group for the second consecutive season.
“It’s the overall quality. We need to have our very best players available,” Rodgers told the BBC. “What makes the difference is that bit of experience and genuine quality. That’s something we can hopefully resolve over the next couple of windows.
“This group has gained more experience and shown they can compete in some games – but we need to add quality. That’s the glaring thing that stands out. Sadly for us, over the course of all the games, we’ve been hampered with our squad and availability. At this level, for us, that’s the very minimum. But I have to commend the players that have been playing. They have given everything. The game was very competitive right the way through.
“We lose two goals but the effort and commitment was there. In the last 20 minutes we looked like the team that could go on and get the result, but we gave away two poor goals.”
Celtic made a decent fist of the first half without threatening much, although after four minutes the Lazio keeper Ivan Provedel had to deal with a drive from the striker Kyogo Furuhashi. However, the best chance of the first half fell to Lazio’s Brazil international Felipe Anderson, who missed the target with a close-range header from a Matteo Guendouzi cross which ought to have tested the Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart. Furuhashi almost capitalised on Lazio indecision in the penalty area between Provedel and the defender Mario Gila before the Italian side got the ball to safety.
Lazio started the second half with increased tempo but in the 49th minute Furuhashi flashed a shot across the far post on a Celtic break before Yang Hyun-jun headed a Forrest delivery back across goal trying to find Furuhashi when he might have tried to get it on target. Taty Castellanos twice headed over the bar at the other end and Gustav Isaksen squeezed a shot past the far post after a clever break into the Celtic box.
Immobile and Pedro Rodríguez came on for Anderson and Castellanos with Forrest making way for Mikey Johnston with the striker Oh soon coming on for Bernardo to support Furuhashi. The game began to heat up at both ends. The Lazio captain, Luis Alberto, lofted a shot over the bar with 10 minutes remaining but when Isaken’s drive was deflected into the path of Immobile he gleefully knocked it past Hart.
Minutes later the Italy international outmuscled Liam Scales, turned inside Cameron Carter-Vickers and slotted in from close range again.
There was more drama in the three added minutes when Celtic were awarded a penalty for a Patric push on Oh but after being directed to his monitor, the Turkish official changed his mind and a chance of a consolation was gone.
Celtic finished on two points in the Champions League last season and they have their final match at home against Feyenoord next month to improve on that tally.
“We want to finish on a high,” Rodgers said. “We want to win in front of our own supporters. Our support has been incredible, travelling all round Europe. They haven’t seen us win and we’d love to give them that victory at home and finish off with a positive result.”