Dinamo Zagreb players and captain’s bizarre verdict on Champions League draw with Celtic

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Celtic earned another Champions League point on the road after the 0-0 draw with Dinamo Zagreb last night.

Celtic boss, Brendan Rodgers was fairly happy with the result calling the draw in Zagreb as ‘solid and strong’ as the Hoops gaffer took another step toward qualifying from the Champions League.

The Bhoys currently sit in 19th place in the UEFA league with a round of fixtures to play tonight but to put this into perspective, Rodgers’ side is just three points of Bayern Munich in the automatic qualification spot with the same number of games played.

Whilst the majority of the Celtic fans will agree that a draw was a fair result considering the lack of chances both teams created, it was the comments of some of Zagreb’s players that will raise the eyebrows of the Celtic support.

Dinamo Zagreb players make claim about Celtic draw in Champions League

Speaking after the game, Zagreb captain Stefan Ristovski, Marko Pjaca and Dario Špikić offered their thoughts on the draw with Celtic.

Ristovski told Arena Sports TV, “I’m satisfied, congratulations to the guys, the approach was right, I’m sorry we didn’t score.

“I’m glad that we showed that we are still alive and no one wants us. We started cautiously. But the energy was there. We were alive, we played a very good game.

“The focus is now on SHNL. We have problems, but we will not give up. Some humiliate us and write us off.”

This was probably the most balanced analysis of the game but it starts to take a turn with Zagreb’s winger Marko Pjaca up next, “We played a good and solid game. They are in very good shape. We can be proud.

“The most realistic result is 0-0. It remains a pity because we had a few chances. It was my chance with my head. The goalkeeper defended, what is there is there. Let’s play the next game in the SHNL with this approach and there will be no problems.

“In the first half, they had more of the ball, but in the second we stopped a little more. The most important competition for us is the championship.

“We haven’t been good lately. We want to let the fans and ourselves know that we can play well. Only through the championship can we perform in Europe again.”

But it was Croatian striker, Dario Špikić comments that will raise eyebrows, “A difficult game, it remains a regret because we did not take three points.

“I think we were better. Everything remains open in the Champions League. We are now turning to SHNL and Lokomotiva. In the first half, we started somewhat shyly. We opened up more in the second half. We created a couple of chances.”

Celtic’s Champions League match stats blow Dinamo Zagreb’s player’s verdict out the water

The match stats certainly do not show that Zagreb were the better team at all. In fact, last night’s performance by Celtic was probably one of the most dominant away displays the Parkhead club have ever produced.

The only thing that was lacking was a goal and Celtic almost got that in the final few minutes after a Zagreb defender denied Adam Idah a tap in at the near post.

With that in mind, here are last night’s match stats which make the Zagreb player’s (especially Špikić’s) comments look bizarre: