Based on their performances, Celtic should have more than just a point from their first two games in the Champions League this season. Yes, Real Madrid were most probably deserving winners at Parkhead but the scoreline should have been nowhere near as one sided as 3-0 and the Hoops should have scored a goal or two at least.
On the other hand, Celtic completely dominated Shakhtar Donetsk for most parts of their game in Warsaw and could have scored three, four or even more goals, if they had taken their chances. But once again, the Bhoys were wasteful in front of goal and paid the price by dropping two valuable points as the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
In fact, the goal on the night for the Hoops came from a deflection off a Shakhtar Donetsk player. So, no Celtic player has scored in the Champions League group stage this season till now.
And Jota was very honest about the side not taking their chances. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, he said in an interview posted by UEFA:
"“I think we keep on having some good chances, but we don’t finish them, and at Champions League level, if you don’t take them you’ll suffer for sure.“But we’ll learn from this, and there is a belief in this group that we can go to higher places.”"
Jota makes honest admission about Celtic’s problem in the Champions League
The situation is far from ideal for Celtic, even though they are still in the mix for qualification to the next round of the competition.
They will need to get positive results against RB Leipzig, if they are to keep their hopes alive of qualifying to the last 16 of the competition. That won’t be easy though.
RB Leipzig seem to be bouncing back after Marco Rose was appointed as their new manager. They got a 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund and were the better team at Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid, although two late goals from the European champions meant that they lost on the night. Their performance will have given them a lot of confidence though.