For Celtic the persistent cruelty of the Champions League is becoming too much to bear. The burden of history is becoming crushing.
For one, maybe two minutes, Scotland’s champions stood on the verge of their first win at this level for 10 years.
With eight minutes to play and the game finely poised at 1-1 substitute Luis Palma lashed the ball low into the net past Ivan Provedel, sending Parkhead wild. The shirt was off the back, a yellow card coming the reward for his celebrations.
In the age of VAR every goal celebration is premature, of course. The players were back, ready to go when the Lithuanian video officials deliberated over an offside. Had the cross from the right run all the way through to Palma the summer signing would have been home and dry, his Celtic career up and running with an act of heroism.
Maeda’s hopelessly optimistic overhead kick was the problem, the ball appearing to skim his shin. The sense of anti-climax when the goal was chalked off was palpable. From scenes of unbridled joy the air was sucked out of Parkhead.
Kyogo Furuhashi opened up the scoring with a tidy brace on 12 minutes to send Celtic Park wild
Matias Vecino pegged one back for the visitors 17 minutes later to send both sides into half time level at one a piece
When the board went up for six minutes they still looked the likelier to win the game. With 95 minutes on the clock substitute Cameron Carter-Vickers – returning from injury – had his pocket picked 30 yards from goal and Lazio pounced.
Matteo Guendouzi picked out Pedro Rodriguez with all the space in the world at the back post and the substitute’s looping header dipped into the far corner of the net. For Celtic it was a hideous end to a night which, minutes earlier, had promised to rip the monkey from their back.
While the team sitting 16th in Serie A wildly celebrated their first away win in the Champions League since Besiktas in 2003 Brendan Rodgers and his side were subjected to another barrage of unflattering stats.
It’s now close to a decade since a 2-1 win over Ajax on 22 October 2013. After their matchday one defeat to Feyenoord the Parkhead side have now won just one of their last 22 games against Europe’s elite. Their last Champions League victory was Anderlecht in September 2017.
Brendan Rodgers called this a ‘belief game.’ An opportunity to prove that they really could compete at this level. They could hardly have started any better.
The game was 12 minutes old when Kyogo Furuhashi scored his first ever Champions League goal. Last season the Japanese international faced scrutiny over his chance conversion rate. Not for the first time he answered the questions with an opportunistic finish to fire Scotland’s champions into the lead.
A fine goal it was, too. Daizen Maeda – playing on the right flank with Hyunjun Yang on the left – took a superb first touch to burst infield and raise his head. Spotting Matt O’Riley on the edge of the area Celtic’s in-form midfielder cushioned the ball expertly into the path of Furuhashi, darting in behind Alessio Romagnoli. The run perfectly timed to escape an offside flag, the talisman thumped the ball through the legs of Lazio keeper Ivan Provedol and the roof almost came off the stadium.
The game was tied with seconds to go until Pedro rose at the back post to head in Matteo Guendouzi’s floated cross to stun the hosts
Provedel had drawn a bit of attention on matchday one for popping up in the box to glance in a stunning 95th minute equaliser against Atletico Madrid. In the process he instantly claimed more strikes in the Champions League than Celtic’s entire starting eleven last night. The opening goal felt like a monkey off the back.
A slack pass from Liam Scales after 26 minutes seemed to flick a switch with Lazio. Bodies swarming all over the attacking third a dinked ball over the top provided the first chance of the night for the captain Ciro Immobile to thump a volley at goal. Joe Hart saved brilliantly, the offside flag rendering the whole business redundant. Suddenly, however, Lazio believed. They looked like the team most likely to strike.
Scotland’s champions were over-loaded on the left flank repeatedly and, when the visitors won a series of corners before the half hour the home fans fell silent and nervous. Their judgement was sound.
Disaster struck when Celtic failed to defend the second ball from a Luis Alberto corner, Romagnoli heading the ball back into the mixer for Matias Vecino to get a deft flick off the head past Hart, who couldn’t keep it out. Lazio had their leveller.
The equaliser felt like the popping of a balloon, the air slowly draining from a home crowd enthused by the start to the game.
Celtic worked a chance for O‘Riley to force Provedel into a low diving save to his left. Broadly speaking half-time was a welcome interlude for Celtic. Their attacking endeavours had become sporadic, the stadium pensive. Lazio fancied this now.
What a let-off off for Celtic after six minutes of the second half. Once again Lazio came on the left flank, Felipe Anderson granted the freedom of the 18 yard box when Immobile slotted a piercing pass through the back line. Cutting inside the wide man made a hash of things. The home support breathed again.
Celtic’s best chance for over 40 minutes came from delightful footwork from Yang on the edge of the Lazio area.
In a neat move O’Riley laid the ball off for Hatate, the Japanese midfielder curling the ball towards the bottom left hand corner of the goal. It was going in as well, Provedel throwing himself down to save brilliantly. When the ball broke to Alistair Johnston the right back drove over the crossbar.
Minutes later came one of the loudest ovations of the night. The return of Cameron Carter-Vickers from injury felt like the entry of a Roman emperor to the colosseum. Luis Palma was also sent on for Yang, the game delicately poised entering the final half hour. Paulo Bernardo’s arrival for Reo Hatate reflected the need for more legs. One last push over the trenches in the final stages in search of that elusive, precious Champions League win.
For a few fleeting seconds it looked as if Palma would be the man, a break of the ball allowing the Honduran to get a rare run at goal. The sliding tackle from Romagnoli was Italian defending of the old school. No nonsense, perfectly timed, brilliant.
It was, in the end, a very Italian win. Rocking in the final stages Lazio soaked up what the hosts had to give and hit them with the cruellest of sucker punches in the fifth minute of added time; just as they did against Atletico Madrid two weeks ago.
When these teams last met in the Europa League in 2019 Oliver Ntcham’s last minute chip earned Celtic’s first win on Italian soil. How sweet revenge felt for Lazio and their raucous band of fans.
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