HAVE Celtic ever experienced such euphoric highs and crushing lows in a single European campaign as they have in the Champions League this season?
Brendan Rodgers, his players and their supporters were brought unceremoniously back to earth after their rousing draw against Manchester City three weeks ago with this costly defeat.
The margin of the loss to Borussia Moenchengladbach at Celtic Park was not great - an opportunist strike from Lars Stindl and a fine individual effort by Andre Hahn in the second half was all that separated the two teams at the end of the 90 minutes - but that was irrelevant.
The result saw Celtic drop to bottom spot in Group C at the halfway stage. Having struggled to compete throughout the contest their hopes of finishing third in their section and progressing to the knockout stages of the Europa League look very slim indeed.
The Scottish champions had Craig Gordon, who had been unceremoniously dropped after helping them to clinch a place in the group stages for the first time in three years, to thank for keeping them on level terms in the first half.
They could have no complaints about suffering only the fourth defeat in 26 appearances in the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition.
Having lost away to part-time Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar in their opening match, defeated Astana and Hapoel Be’er Sheva in qualifying, been hammered by Barcelona and drawn with City, this was the latest twist in their remarkable campaign.
But it is rather hard to see them bouncing back, against either Moenchengladbach next month or City and Barcelona after that, and savouring any more glorious evenings in the 2016/17 season after this painful reverse.
The Germans are currently sitting in ninth place in the Bundesliga due to a lengthy injury list; their first choice strikers Thorgan Hazard and Raffael are missing along with their fellow forward Josip Drmic, winger Fabian Johnson and defender Andreas Christensen.
In stark contrast, Rodgers had the luxury of having a full-strength squad to choose from. He opted, not surprisingly, for the same starting line-up which had kicked off the game against City last month.
Yet, two searing breaks down right flank in the opening three minutes underlined that the visitors would, despite the absence of so many key personnel, be no pushovers. First Mikael Lustig and then Kolo Toure cleared the ball to safety with opposition attackers lurking unmarked in front of goal
Had Moenchengladbach targeted the teenage Kieran Tierney as the weak link in the Celtic backline? It was unexpected if they had given the left back’s exceptional form this term. But much of the German side’s attacking play was certainly concentrated on his area of the field. Lustig had a far quieter evening in comparison.
Tierney stuck to his task admirably and sought to get upfield as often as he could. But the difficulties he was experiencing defensively showed when he was booked by Greek referee Tasos Sidiropoulos for a needless foul on Ibrahima Traore after 35 minutes.
Technically and tactically, the visitors impressed greatly. Their passing was sharp and their movement was constant. The high level they play at domestically was obvious. The home team, to their credit, kept their composure and, with a couple of exceptions, defended with conviction. But it was their rivals who quickly took control of the game.
Scott Sinclair managed to get a shot away early on that Moenchengladbach keeper Yann Sommer had little difficulty blocking. Nir Bitton also forced the goalie to push his long-range free-kick past his post. Those scoring chances, if you could call them that, aside Celtic rarely threatened in the first half.
That the travelling support, tucked away in their corner of Celtic Park, managed to drown out the home fans for large swathes of the game despite being heavily outnumbered told its own story.
In the 17th minute Jonas Hofman sprinted past Tierney and picked out Oscar Wendt in space inside the Celtic area. The left back laid the ball off to Traore whose low shot was heading for the bottom right corner before Gordon managed to get a hand to it.
Gordon also denied Hofmann and Andre Hahn in the opening 45 minutes during which his side struggled to get out of their own half. Sinclair and James Forrest out wide were starved of decent service and Moussa Dembele up front cut an isolated figure.
Yet, a wonderful piece of vision by Tom Rogic, probably the hosts’ most effective outfield player, a minute before half-time created probably the best scoring opportunity of the encounter for either team.
The Australian midfielder’s defence-splitting reverse pass sent Sinclair, cutting inside from wide on the left flank, through on goal with just Sommer to beat. His fine ball deserved far better than a miscued effort that sailed high over the crossbar.
Sinclair will have regretted that poor attempt when Stindl pounced on a loose ball in the Celtic box in the 57th minute and hooked a shot between the legs of the helpless Gordon to give the visitors what was a richly deserved lead.
Erik Sviatchenko produced a great tackle on Hahn shortly after his team had fallen behind. But things were looking exceedingly ominous for his side at that stage.
Rodgers certainly reacted to the goal in a positive fashion. He withdrew Bitton, who once again failed to impose himself on a big match, Rogic and Forrest and threw on Callum McGregor, Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts respectively in their place. But the substitutions failed to have the desired impact.
Andre Schubert’s team forged further ahead in the 77th minute. Kolo Toure gave away possession carelessly inside his own half, Hahn picked up the ball and raced fully 30 yards before, despite the close attentions of several Celtic defenders, firing the ball past Gordon and high into the roof of the net.
Next up for Celtic is the rematch with Moenchengladbach at Stadion Borussia-Park in a fortnight. They will have to perform far better to get a result and keep their hopes of progressing in Europe alive.
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