Celtic fans had been hoping for an inspired performance and positive result from Celtic when they travelled to Rome to take on Lazio. To be very honest, the Hoops should have won the reverse fixture at Parkhead against Maurizio Sarri's side. But they were not clinical in front of goal and ended up losing 2-1, with Pedro scoring a 95th minute winner for the Italian team.
If Celtic could replicate that performance in Rome, there was a chance they could win this time around. Unfortunately, once again they could not take their chances, although they were much less frequent this time around.
Still, Celtic were in the game for a long time. That was until Ciro Immobile was brought on as a substitute and ended up scoring a late brace to secure the win for Lazio.
Now, there is no question about the quality of Immobile. He has proven himself as one of the most consistent goalscorers in all of Europe for years now. But at the same time, the goals looked to be avoidable on the part of Celtic.
Neil Lennon criticises Celtic player for Lazio's second goal
Lennon did not seem impressed with the defending when it came to Lazio's second goal. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, he told told TNT Sports (28/11/23 at 7:40 pm):
“This is very poor defending. Scales gets all in a tangle. He is just too powerful. Carter-Vickers sells himself."
The result away in Rome meant that Celtic's hopes of making it out of the group or even finishing third to drop down to the Europa League, are now officially over. They will finish bottom, no matter what happens on the final matchday and there will be no European football at Parkhead after Christmas.
The minimum expectation coming into the season would have been progress in Europe, after they had finished the previous Champions League group campaign winless. They have just one chance left to get a win this time around, a home game against Feyenoord.