Celtic blown away by PSG millionaires
● Neymar, Mbappe, Cavani all on target ● Uefa sanctions likely after fan runs on
Brendan Rodgers insisted he wasn’t concerned about presiding over Celtic’s heaviest home defeat for 122 years as his team were crushed 5-0 by Paris Saint-germain in the opening match of their Champions League group stage campaign.
The Scottish champions were outclassed by the lavishly resourced French club, whose £420 million front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani all scored to give them a 3-0 half-time lead. Mikael Lustig’s own goal and Cavani’s second of the match completed the rout.
It was a record-setting night Celtic will want to forget as quickly as possible. It was the worst home defeat they have ever suffered in 52 years of European competition and it also matched their heaviest loss of all time in all competitions at Celtic Park when Hearts won 5-0 in a league fixture back in 1895.
To complete a dismal evening, Celtic are also likely to face fresh disciplinary sanctions from Uefa after a supporter invaded the pitch and attempted to assault Mbappe before he was restrained by stewards and police.
For Celtic manager Rodgers, the next Group B fixture against Anderlecht – who lost 3-0 at Bayern Munich last night – in Brussels on 27 September is already shaping up as crucial to their hopes of further progress in Europe.
Rodgers disregarded the final scoreline last night and focused on his unhappiness with his players’ approach in the opening 45 minutes.
“I’m not worried about records,” said Rodgers. “Tonight we were playing against world-class opponents, but in the second half – it’s always easy to play at 0-3, I want them to start like that.
“We were playing like under 12s at times. But I don’t want to be too harsh on my players. PSG are two or three levels beyond us. If we get better we can achieve the main aim, which is European football after Christmas.
“We could have been better in the first half, we were too passive, didn’t press well enough and stood off. In the first half-hour of the second half, we were much better but you can always concede against players of that quality. It’s a phenomenal squad that Paris have but I was proud of the players in the second half and the supporters were terrific, they kept encouraging us.
“At this level you have to make the ball work, and you have to have that belief.
“We were much better in the second half, we had a couple of wee moments in the final third, but you have to give Paris credit. They showed why they’re going to be up there to win this competition. It’s a tough lesson, a harsh lesson for us. This is a level which is all about learning for us, and tonight we’ll learn from that.”
Rodgers also expressed his dismay at the pitch invader, who was loudly jeered by the rest of the Celtic support.
“The reaction [of the rest of the fans] said it all,” said Rodgers. “It’s disappointing at any ground when a fan gets onto the pitch. I’m sure the club will deal with that. It’s not something we should see.”
BRENDAN RODGERS
“We were playing like under-12s at times. But I don’t want to be too harsh on my players”
Celtic were left down and out on London Road last night. What might happen in Paris perhaps doesn’t bear thinking about.
Paris Saint-germain’s all-black change strip helped lend an impression of sleek, almost sinister, invincibility. Celtic were mugged in their own backyard on a sobering, potentially costly, night for the Scottish champions.
As for Neymar, a goal 19 minutes into his return to Parkhead, his fifth in total against Celtic, meant it was another profitable outing against the Scots. Such fiscal terms are of course very appropriate when used in connection with Neymar, the world’s most expensive player. Celtic are sorely aware of the Brazilian’s value now, that’s for sure. He might be Public Enemy No 1 in this corner of the world but he seems to feast on being the pantomime villain.
He’s now had a hand in 12 goals – seven assists, on top of his five strikes – in five Champions League games against Celtic. He should have had another, firing high over the bar midway through the second-half. But there was still time left for Celtic fans to obtain some satisfaction, a cheer such as normally greets a goal welcoming Neymar’s booking for dissent after claiming to have been fouled by Anthony Ralston, his 18-year marker. The Bellshill defender posted a brave performance on a bruising night for more experienced members of the Celtic team. Even the 56 on the young defender’s back doesn’t get close in millions to the worth of his opposite man.
While acknowledging the recent regeneration work carried out around Parkhead in recent years, it still felt slightly obscene to welcome a player worth £200 million – and probably rising – to streets where real poverty still exists.
A “them and us” theme developed on the pitch just to stress this point. But then how could it be otherwise? Celtic’s most costly players were Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham, willing, often exceptional workers but who suffered a reality check along with their team-mates last night.
But there was no shame in this. Ten years earlier to the very night Brown was starring in a famous Scottish victory over French aristos in Paris. His victory is still being picked to play on this stage – his image was used in an impressive mock up of “Liberty Leading the People”, a famous painting by Eugene Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, unveiled by the Green Brigade before kick-off.
Where ignominy existed was in the fan running on to the pitch to try to aim a kick at Kylian Mbappe just before half-time, with Celtic reeling at 0-3. Like his team, he fell far short, but the invader’s incompetence was welcomed. Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, will already be calculating the cost of an intruder seeking to maim the world’s most expensive teenager. It won’t be light.
But there were better, more hopeful aspects to emerge last night. Ralston looks like he’s stepped out of a 1950s comic strip. Big boned, committed and handed the biggest challenge of his young life by Brendan Rodgers, who’s nothing if not bold, he sought to get to grips with Neymar. Ralston left the Brazilian on his expensive behind on a couple of occasions early on, clearly unfazed by the task.
Like the first acorns, the Champions League theme tune and fluttering of centre-circle flag has become a reliable signal for autumn in these parts again under Rodgers. But this felt like Champions League in excelsis. Even after recent visits here from Barcelona, Manchester City and the rest, this was a bit special. Paris Saint-germain might not have the history – not yet at least. Last night’s match programme tried to supply them with some, erroneously giving their year of formation as 1870 rather than 1970. The confusion is understandable. Clubs formed in 1970 don’t tend to have amassed enough appeal to submit a teamsheet like PSG did last night, which was worth around £550m. Their front three of Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe alone are worth over £400m. We love to reassure ourselves that money doesn’t always talk, or guarantee glory, but it did last night. Opulence oozed from their pores. They weaved their way out of defence with the nonchalance of seamstresses producing an expensive shawl.
PSG’S strikers had bagged a goal each by half-time. Leigh Griffiths stumbled with the ball deep in the PSG half of the pitch, Ralston got the wrong side of Neymar after Adrien Rabiot’s long ball. 0-1. Mbappe slashed in No 2 a dozen minutes later and then Cavani shot high past Craig Gordon from the penalty spot with five minutes left of the half. But Celtic were not let down on the park, they were let down off it – well actually on it, in a way – because one person in an otherwise superbly behaved crowd could not control his emotions.
Two more goals at the end, an own goal from Mikael Lustig and another for Cavani, sealed Celtic’s worst-ever European home defeat. Eyeing their first European Cup win, it might not be the only piece of history PSG will be creating this season.