Celtic player accepts responsibility for Feyenoord opener

It wasn’t the best of nights for Celtic in Europe. One player has acknowledged that and has taken responsibility for his part in the 2-0 defeat. It wasn’t the worst of nights either to be fair. In amongst the disappointments and errors in the opening Champions League group match against Feyenoord, there were some promising moments too. Just not enough of them.

The main focus for the defeat inevitably is on the two red cards for Gustaf Laherbielke and Odin Thiago Holm. Leaving the rest of the team down to nine men was far too big a step to even remotely consider rescuing a point from the match. The duo will surely learn from the experience on the night.

The penalty which came after Lagerbielke’s sending-off could have been even more painful and a bigger talking point had Joe Hart not managed to save it. That’s the first Celtic penalty save in a Champions League match since Artur Boruc against Manchester United back in 2006.

Although Hart did well with that save the keeper had a part to play in the other big moment in the match. The disappointing goal from a Feyenoord free kick right at the end of the first half. There are a few errors in the Celtic set up for this and although they were unlucky to see an average strike find the back of the net there was plenty the goalkeeper and the defenders should have done to prevent that.

Celtic player accepts responsibility for Feyenoord opener

As reported by Glasgow Times, Hart said:

"“We had a good first half but a disappointing end to it with the free-kick.“Going down to 10 then nine men made it difficult.“It was a terrible time to lose the first goal, but that’s this level. It’s quick, sharp and there’s lots going on. There were a few factors at the free-kick, but I’ll look at my position. As the keeper, I want to be saving those.“The ball skipped up, it was curling away. A guy ran across Kyogo in the wall and it affected him. It was a perfect storm for them and it went in. But I’ll look at myself, I always do that because I want to save everything.“At Champions League level, you have to be honest. With any free-kick, you have to wait until it goes over the wall because it can skip off a shoulder. But it cuts down your reaction time.“I’m not making excuses, that’s facts. That’s the level we’re at and I didn’t manage to get across to it.”"

For a goalkeeper with Hart’s experience, it’s disappointing to be talking about learning from mistakes. But while his positioning was not the best and his scrambled dive did not look good either, the Englishman was let down by the wall and Kyogo’s movement to help open up a gap for Feyenoord.

It is clear that Celtic need to cut out the mistakes if they are to have any hope of making it out of the group. Their next Champions League game will be a home one, against Lazio.