Celtic 1 – 2 Lazio

By fromermedia@gmail.com On Oct 5, 2023

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Celtic suffered Champions League heartache as Pedro’s stoppage-time header saw Lazio snatch a 2-1 victory at Parkhead.

Kyogo Furuhashi’s first goal in the tournament sent the Hoops fans wild early on as he fired in from a brilliant pass from Matt O’Riley.

The home defence switched off, though, to allow Matias Vicino to force the ball over the line for an equaliser before the break.

Luis Palma thought he had wrapped up the victory for Celtic late on, only for his strike to be ruled out by VAR.

Pedro then pounced in the dying seconds to take the three points for Lazio and leave Celtic bottom of Group E with two defeats from their opening two games.

Celtic’s wait for elusive home win continues

Brendan Rodgers’ side looked the likelier team to find a winner but their 10-year wait for a home victory in the Champions League group stage continues and the ninth defeat in that 11-game run would be the most difficult one to take after a largely encouraging performance.

The game was a resumption of hostilities from four seasons ago when Celtic triumphed home and away against Lazio in the Europa League, their victory in Rome sealed by Olivier Ntcham, who appeared on a massive pre-match banner among the home fans in the standing section.

Celtic settled quickly and Furuhashi netted his first goal in eight Champions League appearances 12 minutes in.

The Japanese striker’s finish went through the dive of goalkeeper Ivan Provedel after he was played through by a first-time pass from O’Riley after positive play from Daizen Maeda.

The atmosphere went up a notch but Celtic did not build on their advantage. Despite having plenty of possession in the aftermath of the goal, most of it was inside their own half and the occasional slack pass put them in danger.

They had a chance on the break when Hyun-Jun Yang played Maeda in behind but the Japanese attacker mis-kicked his ambitious effort.

Lazio’s territorial advantage paid off when they won three headers in a row from Luis Alberto’s corner. Joe Hart appeared to have saved the third one from Vecino but the Lithuanian referee ruled the ball had spun behind the line before being clawed away.

Celtic got back on the front foot and O’Riley forced a good save from a first-time strike before getting back to make an important interception to foil a counter-attack.

The start of the second half was finely balanced. Felipe Anderson failed to make the most of receiving the ball in yards of space inside the Celtic box before the home side came close from a free-kick. Provedel made a good stop from Reo Hatate’s low drive and Alistair Johnston fired over from the rebound.

Cameron Carter-Vickers made his comeback from a hamstring injury after a seven-week lay-off when he replaced Nat Phillips, while Palma came on for Yang, who had enjoyed some good moments but generally failed to make the most of his possession.

Hart got down well to save Daichi Kamada’s 20-yard drive before Paulo Bernardo snatched at a half-chance at the other end moments after coming on.

Celtic continued to make the running. Palma was briefly bearing down on goal before Alessio Romagnoli slid in to win the ball, Liam Scales attempted an overhead kick which flew over and Furuhashi was denied from close range.

Palma thought he had scored what would have been one of the best-worked goals in the Champions League this week after a lengthy passing move that went from back to front and side to side.

The Honduran winger was booked for taking his shirt off in celebration before the VAR team delivered worse news, and a crushing blow from Pedro would soon follow to leave Celtic bottom of their group without a point.

Rodgers: We have to learn from defeat

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers:

“I’m bitterly disappointed as I felt we deserved to take something from the game.

“We had a great start and scored a great goal, I’m disappointed with the goal that we concede because we can do better from the from the corner. But, I thought going into the second half apart from the one we had later on, we enjoyed the better of the game and we were getting through there.

“It looked like a matter of time before we could score, we got the goal, but unfortunately Daizen just get a touch on it and made it offside.

“It’s really harsh on us, but there’s a learning there where we you have to secure the ball in the game and if you’re not going to win it at that stage as it comes forward then you certainly can’t lose it.

“That’s a big learning but the players give everything now, the squad of players that we have, the mentality, everything and just disappointing for the players and the supporters we couldn’t get the result.”