Celtic seal Europa spot but Simunovic error frays Parkhead nerves
THE Europa League awaits Celtic in the spring, but only after an undistinguished performance on an awkward evening which saw them lose to Anderlecht by a Jozo Simunovic own-goal midway through the second half of the final Champions League outing for both sides.
The occasion was notable for Scott Brown’s 69th appearance in the tournament, which took him past Kenny Dalglish’s European Cup total at both Celtic and Liverpool, but it was also a frustrating outing which ensured that Brendan Rodgers has yet to win a Champions League group stage game at home in two campaigns.
That said, Celtic achieved an aim which would have been acceptable to them at the start of the season and they will take that as comfort after a gusty and inhospitable evening that will be expunged from the collective memory.
“They were better than us tonight but our aim was to get through to Europa League and come third in the group, that would be a massive achievement and we did that,” said Rodgers. “There is immense pride but it is hard to feel that when you have lost.”
The pre-match news that heartened the Celtic faithful was the inclusion of Moussa Dembele in the starting line-up. In his previous Champions League outing against Paris St-Germain in Paris, Dembele scored in the opening 90 seconds of a 7-1 thrashing, but he had little to do throughout a first half in which Anderlecht were the more aggressive team, as they necessarily pursued a reversal of the 3-0 defeat inflicted by the Hoops when these sides first met in Brussels.
To the audible alarm of the home
crowd, Sven Kums was first to get an effort on target after only two minutes of play and it took a full stretch leg block by Craig Gordon to turn the ball around the post.
Celtic’s goalkeeper was called into action on two more occasions during the remainder of the half, the first being an alarming Anderlecht surge which culminated in a dangerous overhead kick from Adrien Trebel inside the box.
The same player was offered another opportunity when James Forrest, trying to pass from a deep position, played the ball straight to the Frenchman, who hit his shot firmly and just below the crossbar, but right at Gordon .
The crowd’s restlessness was in proportion to Celtic’s torpor, which could be gauged from the fact that it took until seven minutes from the break for them to display sufficient menace to force their first corner kick, the product of a foray by Kieran Tierney.
Rodgers did not look enchanted when the Slovenian referee signalled half-time and even the normally buoyant Brown looked preoccupied on a night when he had made history.
The crucial comfort for Celtic was that Anderlecht had come no closer to the 3-0 victory required to deprive the Hoops of their place in Europe after Christmas. But Rodgers signalled his own feelings with a double substitution for the restart, with Olivier Ntcham and Tom Rogic going on for Stuart Armstrong and Scott Sinclair respectively.
The new blood and an increase in tempo lifted the crowd’s spirits, and Forrest drew a full-blooded roar when he cut in from the left to deliver a curling effort that was tipped behind by Franck Boeckx.
It was at the other end, however that the stalemate was broken, with the unwilling assistance of Simunovic, when Pieter Gerkens glanced a cross from the right off the Celtic defender’s stooping shoulder and beyond Gordon.
Celtic’s situation threatened to deteriorate when the diligent Sofian Hanni let fly with an effort which made Gordon work at the expense of a corner, but Rodgers’ players held out to ensure their extended European participation after the opportunity to re-inforce their playing squad in the January transfer window. (© Daily Telegraph, London)