Chris Sutton has labelled Celtic’s points return in the Champions League ‘not good enough’.
The Hoops crashed to a late 2-0 defeat against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico last night as Brendan Rodgers’ men were eliminated from the top table competition and will also be unable to land third spot and the Europa League knockout place that comes with it. It means the final group clash with Feyenoord at Parkhead will be a dead-rubber after a return of just one point from five outings so far in the section.
Ciro Immobile was the hero for the home side as he climbed off the bench to net a late double beyond Joe Hart for a side Sutton believes are ‘bang average’. He reckons his old club lacked any real belief and physicality in their quest to pick up a famous away day win in Rome. The Scottish champions knew it was a win or bust scenario pre-match but were unable to emulate Neil Lennon’s class of 2019 in a disappointing night in the end.
Reacting to the result and Celtic’s Champions League display in general, Sutton tweeted: “A predictably disappointing night… can’t get away from it that as Champions League groups go this was a gentle one and one point from five games in this group is not good enough. The team tonight really lacked physicality as well as real belief against a bang average Lazio.”
Giving his verdict at full-time, Rodgers added: “We want to finish on a high. We want to win in front of our own supporters. Our support has been incredible, travelling all round Europe. They haven’t seen us win and we’d love to give them that victory at home and finish off with a positive result.”
He continued: “We kept the ball but we needed to progress the game that bit more. Second half, we were much better, progressing the game through the pitch and managing the game well and then we arrive on the ascendency.
“In the last 20 minutes we looked like the team that could go on and get the result, but we gave away two poor goals.
“The first one, we’re in a great position up the pitch and we lose possession and never recover our shape. Then they get a bit of luck with the deflection. That was a tough one to take. For the second goal, we obviously need to be stronger and better.”
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