The pride and optimism that filled Celtic ahead of their Champions League campaign this season is quickly giving way to a colder, harsher reality.
Defeat here leaves them with a point from three games, and they will probably need to get something at Real Madrid to qualify from Group F. Which is not impossible, of course. But at every turn they are learning some stern lessons and this time it was the turn of a shuddering but improving Leipzig to tell them.
It could have been a proper thrashing. Leipzig had two goals disallowed, created numerous overlaps and openings, broke through a fragile Celta defense which, in turn, was heavily exposed in midfield and let down by their goalkeeper, Joe Hart. Afterwards, Ange Postecoglou pointed out the number of chances created by Celtic, as well as his team’s inexperience at this level. But he will also know deep down that Celtic are much further away from the European elite than many of their supporters like to imagine.
André Silva grabbed both decisive goals in a merciless 13-minute flurry that left Celtic breathless. In reality, the game might have been safe sooner or later. It was a wild, hard-hitting and richly entertaining encounter, with a looseness that at times bordered on chaos and a frenetic pace punctuated only by the many injury-forced stoppages in play.
Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi went down in the first 10 minutes and Celtic captain Callum McGregor had followed suit before the break. The opening certainly seemed to suit the home side better than Celtic, who for all their energy and initiative, looked porous and fragile whenever Leipzig poured in on the break. Naturally, much of the criticism will fall on their makeshift centre-back pairing of Moritz Jenz and Stephen Welsh and the composure of Cameron Carter-Vickers was sorely missed.
But really the failure was collective, a team that had neither the technical quality to control the game, nor the positional discipline to close it, nor the necessary vanguard in front. These are flaws that are forgiven at the domestic level. But not here.
André Silva scores RB Leipzig’s third after Dominik Szoboszlai capitalized on a mistake by Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart. Photograph: Boris Streubel/Getty Images
For Leipzig, further proof of their progress under their new coach, Marco Rose, who has been in the job for a month since the sacking of Domenico Tedesco. While Silva will take the plaudits, it was Christopher Nkunku who was the decisive presence of the match, putting Leipzig ahead on 27 minutes after a lightning strike, and spending the rest of the tie in a high plane of existence : impregnable and untouchable.
There was a certain longing for farewell in the way Leipzig fans chanted his name, knowing that a move to Chelsea is imminent – part sadness and part gratitude, an acknowledgment that few players have played a bigger role important in the rise of the club.
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Celtic, exhausted by the loss of their captain, continued to disconnect. Two minutes into the second half they were rewarded for their persistence: Reo Hatate won the high ball, Kyogo Furuhashi squared for Jota, a quiet, low finish. Here, perhaps, came the crossroads of the match: caught between attack and defence, aggression and caution, Celtic ultimately opted for neither. “We got a bit negative in our mentality, we asked for pressure,” Postecoglou said. “We brought Joe back for no reason. You can’t play for survival at this level.”
Will Hart survive at this level? By now everyone knows his strengths and weaknesses and perhaps it was only a matter of time before his footwork was exposed. Seconds after Dominik Szoboszlai had a goal disallowed because Silva was obscuring Hart’s vision while in an offside position, Hart received the ball and quickly passed it straight to Szoboszlai, who played Silva for an easy ending. “I wasn’t really sure whether to go to the middle or Greg [Taylor]” Hart said afterward. “I decided to go for Greg. And I missed it.”
Not long after, Silva made the game safe. Once again Leipzig killed Celtic with a diagonal ball, once again Mohamed Simakan burst forward from the right-back, again Jota couldn’t keep up. Simakan’s first cross found Silva, who had time to take a touch before tucking the ball in. In many ways it was a goal that summed up Celtic’s campaign so far – one in which, despite their good intentions, they have found themselves. badly off the beat.