Shakhtar Donetsk manager makes ‘incredible’ Celtic admission

Normally, a 1-1 draw away from home in the Champions League would be considered as a positive result for Celtic. Not on this occasion though.  The Hoops were the much better team vs Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw and should have scored at least 3-4 goals with the amount of and quality of chances that they had in the game.

But finishing seems to be a problem for Celtic in Europe at the moment. Even the goal that they scored came from a Shakhtar Donetsk player deflecting the ball into the back of his own net. Thus, in the first two games, none of Ange Postecoglou’s players has been able to get his name on the score sheet, which is a big shame, considering the kind of football that they have played.

It is brilliant football without any end product, which is confusing because we know that these players can score. They have been scoring for fun in the Premiership and have scored 25 goals in 6 league games till now.

Despite Celtic’s lack of finishing, Shakhtar Donetsk manager, Igor Jovicevic, seems to have been impressed with what he saw from The Hoops. As reported by UK Daily News, he said:

"“It was a great game, very dynamic. Celtic are very dynamic, very aggressive, they move very quickly and we knew we would encounter aggressive pressing from their side.“If you look at how they played against Real Madrid, yes Real Madrid won 3-0 but in the first 60 minutes Celtic actually dominated. It’s not a coincidence, it’s the way they play.“They are very experienced and a very strong team. They are super fast and a super aggressive team and we knew exactly what was in store for us. The pressing, especially in the beginning, was incredible.“We tried to stop them and we failed, they scored a goal but then we felt the support of the fans and that was incredible.”"

Shakhtar Donetsk manager makes admission about Celtic

Based on the performance, Celtic deserved to come out with a win from this game. They were the much better side. And this feels more like a couple of points dropped than one gained.

But it is what it is and we have to move on and look forward. Real Madrid did do Celtic a big favour by beating RB Leipzig 2-0.

Those upcoming games against the German side could prove to be very vital for Celtic and those results could have a huge impact on the final standings of the group. Of course, Shakhtar Donetsk cannot be counted out either, with 4 points in the bag.