ANGE POSTECOGLOU refused to blame Nir Bitton or Vasilis Barkas after a missed opportunity against FC Midtjylland.
The Hoops boss was largely pleased by the performance in the 1-1 draw and wasn’t forthcoming in criticism for Bitton or Barkas after the match.
Bitton, in at centre back, was sent off just before half-time after being shown a second yellow. The Israeli stopper, angered by a dive from Anders Dreyer, poked the striker in the head before receiving his marching orders.
READ MORE: Celtic 1 FC Midtjylland 1: Bitton and Barkas blow Celtic’s dominance against Danes
And Barkas was at fault for the Midtjylland leveller as he appeared to pull his arms away from Evander’s fierce free-kick.
Discussing the red card on Premier Sports, Postecoglou said: “I haven’t had a good luck at it, obviously he had already been booked so that gives the referee the opportunity if there is another infringement for another yellow card so it was disappointing.
“But more important the reaction of the players and the way they stood up and young Dane Murray coming in was fantastic.
And asked on whether he expected more from Barkas at the equaliser, he replied: “No, I haven’t seen it again, I thought it was a decent strike.
“For me, what is more important is we limited them to a couple of strikes on goal and I thought defensively considering we had two very young central defenders they did an outstanding job.
“I think we deserved three points, we played really well especially first half we controlled the game, scored a good goal, hit the post.
“Went down to ten men for a significant amount of time and had to work hard. Still then we created some good chances.
“We limited them to two strikes on goal the whole game so a little bit of a missed opportunity but at the same time a fantastic effort by the players.
One player who did catch the eye for Celtic was new signing Liel Abada.
Hailing Abada’s start to his Celtic career, Postecoglou said:“He was bright, he was intelligent with his movement, he scored a good goal and created a couple of good chances. It was a very promising start.”
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