84WHAT A CALAMITY

Gordon points finger at blunder Bhoy Boyata for gifting opening goal

THERE was no attempt to sugarcoat the scale of the howler. Only brutal honesty in the face of a catastrophic defensive failure.

Bayern Munich’s first goal last night, a nothing ball that Dedryck Boyata should have cleared with his eyes shut, had the bulk of a 60,000-strong crowd turning away in disgust.

Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon, caught in a kind of no-man’s land as he charged out in an attempt to slow the progress of Kingsley Coman, admitted: ‘I thought Dedryck was going to header it.

‘The punt through came from the goalkeeper, who has played the ball fairly aimlessly up the park — which is what we’re looking for.

‘It’s just one of those things. You don’t see that often here and I don’t quite know how it got all the way through, but it was a strange goal to lose. I think Dedryck thought it was going to come straight through. I just had to react, so it was kind of an all-round mistake.

‘Coman is pretty quick and he got in behind Dedryck, and I just tried to force him wide and take his momentum off him to allow the guys to get back in behind the ball, but he still managed to score.

‘It’s something you don’t see very often, especially in games at this level, one ball up the pitch causing such difficulty — and we were just a little bit late to react.

‘I had to do something off the bouncing ball, he was coming straight through, he’s quick, and he was right in the middle of the goal.

‘From my point of view, I’ve forced him to come round me and let three of the guys get back goal-side of the ball to try and make a block.

‘And we got unlucky actually because he’s threaded the ball through a forest of legs and found the net. I also felt it might have hit his hand as the ball rolled across his body. Having looked at it again, it looks as though it did touch his hand.

‘The official has looked at it and thought it hit his hip, so there’s a difference of opinion there. It counted. The guy behind the goal should be looking at that. We’ve got goal-line technology, so he should be looking at the play at least. It looked as though it hit his hand and they have got the advantage from that.’

Boyata was clearly affected by his part in the goal, Gordon admitting: ‘Yeah, the manager talked to him about it.

‘He came in and said what he thought — and he thought we should have won the first ball. He felt my starting position was right to go out and make him make a decision to give us time to get back in. So it’s just a really strange goal to lose at this level.’

Gordon wasn’t too happy with the Bayern winner either, pointing out that they’d identified Javi Martinez as one of the key aerial threats; it pained him to see the holding midfielder get a clear header on the ball so soon after Celtic’s equaliser.

Amid the wreckage of defeat, however, there were scraps of consolation. None more so than in the performance of young Scots thrown in against men who have won some of the game’s biggest prizes.

Callum McGregor, scorer of an impish goal and one of the better players on the night, deserved to be singled out alongside Kieran Tierney and the outstanding James Forrest.

For the attacking midfielder, finally in with a chance of making his Scotland debut after being handed a call-up by interim head coach Malky Mackay, it felt like a defining moment.

‘It’s a big game for me because the manager has put me in there, he trusts me to deliver — and I’ve got my goal in a good performance,’ said McGregor.

‘It’s another stepping stone for me. Getting the Scotland call-up was huge. I’ve always said that you can only look after your club football and hope it’s good enough. I hope I’ve done that tonight.

‘Doing well in the Champions League shows that you can play at that level, the very top level. If you are influencing the game, getting goals and performing well, it has to help.

‘I think you have to prove yourself every time you pull on that jersey — show that you are good enough to play in these games. As a young kid watching these games, you so desperately want to be there.

‘When you get a chance, you want to perform. In the past, I’ve come on, played wee bits and done okay.

‘But starting and scoring, doing something that really influences the game, you think: “Aye, I can play here”.

‘I just want to keep proving to people that I can be here, that I can play well at this level. It’s brilliant to see the Scottish boys doing well. There are academy boys out there who have been here for 12, 15 years.

‘It’s great to look up and see the likes of Jamesie and KT. It’s brilliant for the academy.’