Before lamenting another bruising Champions League defeat and speculating on where this one might leave Celtic’s chances of finding a pathway through to the knockout stages – which are now considerably slimmer than they were – let’s acknowledge what last night in Leipzig was all about.
This was not just any standard European tie. This was top-level football in its finest, most exhilarating form. A blistering, 100 miles an hour encounter which thundered along at such an infeasible pace it was exhausting just to watch let alone compete in.
All thrashed out between two teams who don’t have a reverse gear between them, far less any intention of parking buses. And constructed by two like-minded bosses who share futuristic – if high tariff – templates of what the modern game ought to look like. As a result, this coming together of two teams was a breathless affair – an intoxicating cocktail of slick attacking interplay and some utterly suicidal defending.
Ultimately, it was also shattering for a Celtic side which needed desperately to bring something home with them on their late-night charter flight but which left with nothing more than another bloody nose, a crestfallen keeper and a stricken, injured captain.
Joe Hart will rightly shoulder much the blame for a moment of madness which, ironically, mirrored Jon McLaughlin’s brain freeze at Celtic Park in the first Old Firm derby of the season. But while the Englishman remains an occasional liability, the loss of Callum McGregor could be a long-term concern for Ange Postecoglou.
McGregor was injured in the blurring build-up to RB Leipzig’s opening goal. And, from the moment he limped out of view, Celtic were operating without a fulcrum in the middle of the pitch. They did manage to haul themselves level at the start of the second half but, minus McGregor, this contest quickly became a mismatch.
The Germans scored three in the end but it could’ve been six or seven. And none of it bodes well for next Tuesday night when this pair will go at it all over again in Glasgow.
With just one point from a possible nine, there is very little wriggle room left if Celtic have any ambitions left of extending their stay in UEFA’s premier event. That thought alone probably ought to make Postecoglou reconsider his approach to playing at this elite level. That it almost certainly won’t, could also become a matter worthy of debate.
If we’ve learned anything about the Aussie over the last year or so it’s surely that he tends not to spring surprises. More often than not, the big man does exactly what it says on the tin. So there was no unexpected tinkering with his team selection – he sent out the same starting XI that faced Motherwell at the weekend – and no change either to his scorched earth attacking policy.
With Leipzig adopting a similarly aggressive, high-tempo approach, this game had goals written all over it long before it had even begun. That the bulk of them ended up in the back of Hart’s net was no great surprise.
With former Chelsea striker Timo Werner and soon-to-be Chelsea striker Christopher Nkunku forming part of a fluid, four-man German attack, the odds always seemed fairly heavily stacked against the visitors.
But the opening couple of minutes underlined what Celtic were up against as Leipzig came thundering out the traps. They could have conceded twice in that time. That said, they could have scored two of their own in the frantic seven minutes which followed.
And so the tone was set for a breakneck first half. If Postecoglou had even the most remote inclination for self protection he might have intervened at this stage and demanded more safety and caution from his players.
That he did nothing of the sort helped create a compelling spectacle – but also left them wide open to almost every German attack. Of which there seemed an endless supply.
VAR came to the rescue for the first time in 17 minutes when Nkunku clipped a sand wedge of a finish over the advancing and horribly exposed Hart. Replays showed the Frenchman’s knee had strayed into a goalscoring position before the rest of him had caught up.
But this Rolls Royce of a player was only just getting his motor warm. Midway through the half he planted a foot on the accelerator to race through on Hart for a second time, rounding the keeper before lasering home from a tight angle to find the back of Celtic’s net.
In between times there was all manner of mayhem with Leipzig even managing to lose a goalkeeper amid the chaos. Celtic created some big scoring chances too but could take none of them to the obvious frustration of their manager.
The best of the lot came at the height of the madness when Hungarian No.1 Peter Gulacsi felt a knee buckle beneath him as he raced to make a hurried clearance and, as he collapsed to the ground, Reo Hatate failed to find his unguarded net from 20 yards.
But it was the loss of McGregor 10 minutes before half-time which damaged Celtic more than any sloppy finishing. Jota’s equaliser, expertly created and taken at the start of the second half, offered some brief respite and hope for the visitors.
But this was quickly to become a chastening experience from that point onwards.
The clinical Germans seized total control of the central areas and swarmed forward in even greater numbers, sensing there were more goals to be scored.
When Celtic were spared for a second time by VAR – ruling out a strike from Dominik Szoboszlai – it did seem they had caught a much-needed break. But seconds later Hart was scuffing a horrible pass straight to the very same player and Andre Silva was presented with a gift.
Celtic’s misery on the night was complete when Nkunku unlocked their defence with a raking diagonal pass for the rampaging Mohamed Simikan to set up Silva again with a cushioned cross.
The worry is there could be a great deal more suffering where that came from when these sides meet again in less than a week.
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