Would the last one out turn off the disco lights?
They may very well have been bought for nights precisely like these but when the smoke cleared and the floor emptied, after this opening night defeat no one felt very much like dancing. They were too exhausted, too bitterly disappointed.
And probably too full of regret after missing the chances that might have turned this big return to the Champions Leagu e into another of those fairytales from the club’s big book of folklore. Yes, this was the evening which brought Celtic back on to Europe’s greatest stage. And true, for a while Ange Postecoglou ’s players were all fancy footwork and darting movement – just as we have come to expect. But in the space of four second- half minutes they had their legs whipped from underneath them as one of the great heavyweights of the world chose to flex their muscles rather than be dazzled by the show for a moment longer. Liel Abada didn’t recover from blowing the first big opportunity of the night. He was replaced at half-time by Daizen Maeda who botched an even better one.
