Chris Sutton’s brutally honest reaction to Celtic defeat

Coming into the game against Bayer Leverkusen, not many Celtic fans were expecting a win. And a draw would have been seen as a good result. But by the end of the game, they must feel very disappointed at the 3-2 defeat, considering both a win and a draw were well within their grasp and for a large part of the night, it had looked like they were headed for a famous European victory away in Germany.

Jota and Josip Juranovic got the goals for Celtic to hand them a 2-1 lead which they held on to beyond the 80th minute. But then, they conceded twice in quick succession and ended up losing the game.

The defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, combined with Real Betis’ win against Ferencvaros means that Celtic’s hopes of making the Europa League knockout phase are now over even though they still have a game against the La Liga side to play.

And Chris Sutton provided a brutally honest assessment following Celtic’s elimination from the Europa League. He tweeted out:

Celtic now must turn their focus onto other competitions

Fortunately for the Hoops, they have already sealed their spot in the Europa Conference League and will have that to look forward to when the Europa League group stage comes to an end.

The January transfer window is also something that could have an effect on how their season ultimately turns out.

It is no secret that Ange Postecoglou’s side is lacking in squad depth at the moment. That was clear to see today through the substitutions. The manager just did not have enough options on the bench who could come in and grind out a result for them.

Both the late goals that they conceded came after Kyogo, Jota, James Forrest and Nir Bitton had all gone off. Out of the substitutes who came into the game, Liel Abada was the only one who has played a significant amount of first-team football in this campaign.