Neither Celtic nor Bruges were satisfied with the result at Celtic Park, with an insufficient draw for both, who maintain chances of qualifying for the Champions League qualifiers, but not as many as before, especially for the Belgian team. frustrated by Daizen Maeda’s 1-1 and facing a fearsome schedule: Sporting de Portugal, Juventus and Manchester City, the latter out.
The point is worth more to Celtic, with eight points. They are still ahead of Bruges, with seven. And, above all, with three less complex games ahead: Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys and Aston Villa. He will receive the Swiss team at Celtic Park, the place where he bases his faith to believe he is capable of going beyond the first phase. There he has already gone 24 games without losing.
Therefore, this Wednesday’s victory was crucial for Bruges, although it did not guarantee anything. The Belgian team showed its qualities, mainly in the first half. He was not intimidated by Celtic Park or its atmosphere. Nor the sequence of victories of the Scottish team, winner of their six previous games or 22 of the last 25. Nor their strength in this territory. The green and white block had won 21 of its 23 most recent home games.
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The Belgian team had it very studied. Their meeting was designed to perfection from the blackboard. The release of the ball, the pressure from above, the way of facing the collision… It worked for him in the first half. Afterwards, not so much. Every time they launched an attack in the set-up, Brugge overwhelmed Celtic. Precision, mobility, speed, ambition and, above all, a lot of prior work from his opponent and the match.
He was planted a few times in the opposing area, without a clear shot until a left-footed shot from Skov Olsen, but with an increasingly disturbing feeling for the group led by Brendan Rodgers, who almost always arrived late.
The 0-1, in any case, was a calamity for Carter-Vickers and Celtic. In today’s football, the non-negotiable predisposition on so many occasions to come out with the ball played, without a hit, even when the stress is more than evident, implies risks. The Scottish team and the center suffered it, with an unfortunate transfer back that slipped into the net, meekly, next to the post, because their goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, was at the other post.
Carter-Vickers did not look back when he opted for such a common mechanism. The goalkeeper did not imagine this, as he ran to the other side beforehand to give his team a clearer exit option. One decision and another came together in the own goal that promoted a greater challenge for Celtic: to overcome a 0-1 deficit in the Champions League.
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The reaction was immediate. The Danish international goalkeeper gathered his entire team on the grass, like an improvised time-out from another sport. And Celtic woke up due to the inertia of the goal against them, more present in the opposing half, less vulnerable, better reading the duel that they had lost until then in the game and on the scoreboard. And they approached the tie to the same extent that they pushed Bruges back, now much less clairvoyant upwards.
The match was more balanced, at game time Maeda invented the tie. Brugge had forgiven them before, with two chances, stopped by a magnificent save from Schmeichel to De Cuyper and a high shot from Skov Olsen, when, suddenly, the Japanese international placed his right foot without too much angle at the other post. He hit the post and went inside. Jutglà’s response, with a goal, was invalidated due to offside.
1
2
3
42
20
6
27
41
8
10
38
22
65
55
30
4
44
7
15
9
20
8
Celtic Park
1Kasper Schmeichel
Simon Mignolet22
2Alistair Johnston
Joaquin Seys65
91′
Maxim De Cuyper55
42Callum McGregor
Ardon Jashari30
20Cameron Carter-Vickers
25′
Joel Ordonez4
47′
6Auston Trusty
Brandon Mechele44
75′
41Reo Hatate
Raphael Onyedika15
Hans Vanaken20
Substitutes
12Viljami Sinisalo
Nordin Jackers29
5Liam Scales
Zaid Romero2
Jorne Spieleers58
17Maik Nawrocki
Kyriani Sabbe64
56Anthony Ralston
Hugo Vetlesen10
57Stephen Welsh
14Luke McCowan
Michal Skóras21
7Luis Palma
Coach
Brendan Rodgers
Nicky Hayen
