Celtic’s 1-1 draw against FC Midtjylland might not look like a bad result on paper. At the end of the day, the club are expected to strengthen the squad further over the course of the summer. But even then, the Hoops appeared to be the better team for the majority of the match and probably should have won the game.
Celtic opened their Champions League qualification process in strong fashion with Liel Abada scoring the first goal. And at that point of time, they looked very much on the front foot, and in control of the game.
The momentum was taken away though when Nir Bitton got sent off in the first half of the game itself. And while FC Midtjylland would go down to 10 men themselves, the Hoops were not able to replicate their first half performance after the break.
The visitors ended up equalising directly from a free-kick, but Vasilis Barkas should have done much better in goal. Following the match, Chris Sutton pointed out that goalkeeping has been an issue for the club for a while now. As reported by Daily Record, while speaking to Premier Sports, he said:
"“Fraser Forster in goal saves that.“This was going on all last season. Barkas wasn’t good enough, Bain wasn’t good enough. He clearly needs a goalkeeper. It’s a big, big issue.”"
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Do Celtic need to sign a goalkeeper this summer?
Goalkeeping has definitely been an issue for the club recently. None of the three goalkeepers managed to nail down a spot in the first-team last season. And while Barkas impressed in pre-season, it does feel like he dropped the ball on his big chance to make the first-team gloves his own.
Was goalkeeping the only issue on the day? No. It was certainly part of it, but then, the Hoops didn’t take their chances on the other end. That has been an issue in recent times as well, as the players have failed to put away their chances.
Overall, the signs were very promising though, as Celtic played some excellent football and the fans should be excited about what is to come under Ange Postecoglou if this is just after about a month of him being the manager.