Rodgers and Griffiths back fall guy Efe
jersey — everyone needs that support.’
Griffiths backed up his manager’s words and claimed Ambrose’s team-mates remain behind him.
He said: ‘Nine times out of 10, the ball goes behind for a corner or into the crowd but Efe’s always the fall guy. If someone shouts behind Efe to leave it, then Craig has an easy catch.
‘I feel sorry for him. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s a great player. We see it in training all the time, but every mistake seems to come from him. The criticism he gets isn’t fair because it doesn’t recognise the nine times out of 10 he plays well.
‘He didn’t make mistakes on Wednesday night and was one of our best players. If he’s picked for the second leg, he has to look forward and have another game like he had in Astana.’
With the world’s most popular player afield and a pair of defences in exceedingly generous form, this game was good fun for 45 minutes.
The crowd lapped up their chance to clap and cheer Lionel Messi and his bright new hairstyle and Griffiths got to celebrate a gift of a goal, while a Barcelona team playing well within itself got their pre-season underway with a comprehensive win.
There was no question who the main draw was and Barca frontman Messi, sporting the dodgiest dye job to hit Dublin since Bono soaked his head in bleach, drew the loudest cheers.
Luis Enrique had only a fraction of his preferred starting XI available, with luminaries like Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets afforded extra holiday time after their exertions at Euro 2016 and Neymar set to represent Brazil on home soil at the Olympics.
For Celtic, Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembele were left in reserve while Mikael Lustig and new signing Kolo Toure didn’t even travel.
The trouble with playing Barcelona is that no matter how well you think you’re doing, they always have the capacity to cut you apart without warning. Aleix Vidal made a fool of James Forrest, tapping the ball between the Celtic player’s legs before producing the cut-back that invited Arda Turan to sweep home.
Celtic levelled when Jose Martinez’s gift let them in, the defender producing a woefully heavy touch from keeper Jordi Lopez’s pass that allowed Griffiths to slam the ball into an empty net.
If Ambrose was feeling any relief at the sight of an opposing player make such an excruciating mistake, it was short-lived. The Nigerian would have been entitled to question why there was no shout to tell him to let Juan Camara’s cross drift into no-man’s land but, ultimately, it was his own lack of awareness that prompted the touch that turned the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Barca bagged a third when Suarez provided the low assist for Munir Mohamed to net.