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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Samuel Meade & Natalia Penza

Celtic fans leave Madrid's Plaza Mayor looking like rubbish dump after European clash

Celtic fans have been heavily criticised after leaving Madrid's famous Plaza Mayor in a "terrible" state following their Champions League trip.

The Scottish side rounded off their European campaign with a trip to the Bernabeu and prior to kick-off gathered in one of the Spanish capital's most well known spots. Celtic are renowned for their incredible support and took over 10,000 for the clash in Madrid - with only 3,000 of those with tickets leaving the rest to roam the city.

However their treatment of the square has been slammed by locals and other major figures. Images show the area being overwhelmed by rubbish with regional TV broadcaster Telemadrid accusing the Celtic fans of abandoning a "crime scene".

Veteran diplomat Juan Manuel Molina hit out at Madrid’s politicians for allowing “drunken tourism” to tarnish one of the city’s most iconic areas, whose origins date back to the 15th century.

Celtic fans later watched on as their side were given a lesson in finishing by the European champions, who advanced to the last 16 as group winners. Los Blancos, who are eyeing a sixth Champions League success in a decade, scored five past the Scots. Luka Modric and Rodrygo both converted from the spot after Celtic themselves had missed a first-half penalty. In the second-half Madrid added three more with Marco Asensio, Federico Valverde and Vinicius Jnr all getting in on the act.

The travelling faithful were afforded a cheer as Jota fired home a memorable free-kick with six minutes remaining, but their haul of two points from six games ultimately means they will drop out of Europe all together and focus solely on domestic matters.

Joe Hart said after the defeat: "It is never nice to concede two such soft penalties early on. I thought the first half was fairly even apart from that. We had some good chances. Courtois has had a good game. It is an uphill struggle to compete against the Champions of Europe.

"But we have come to represent and put our best foot forward. We have come here to attack, if you leave holes, Madrid are the sort of team that are ruthless. We had some good blocks, and I did not have much to do except fish the ball out of the net five times, which is never nice."

Scottish sides endured forgettable campaigns with both Celtic and Rangers present in this year's competition. Those from Parkhead may take some enjoyment from the difficulties experienced by their arch rivals. Rangers failed to pick up a single point and their goal difference made them the worst group stage participants in Champions League history.

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