A night to forget for Celtic in Europe, and that’s not the first time that has been said this season.
Martin O’Neill’s side have no complaints; Celtic were deservedly beaten 4-1 by VfB Stuttgart, with some horror goals conceded in the first-leg of this Europa League playoff tie.
Concentrating on the opening goal, which was scored by Bilal El Khannouss, Joe Hart blamed Paulo Bernardo because he thinks it ‘all stemmed from a disappointing corner from Bernardo.’
That corner allowed Stuttgart to counter; Celtic won the ball back, controlled it, before Kasper Schmeichel’s wayward kick caused chaos, and El Khannouss was then wheeling away in celebration.
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Joe Hart is critical of Paulo Bernardo for his role in Celtic conceding first to VfB Stuttgart
Many will point towards Schmeichel as the guilty party, and let’s be honest, he was the villain on the night for Celtic.
But Hart, perhaps defending his fellow goalkeeper, concentrated on Bernardo and looked further back to how the ball ended up in Celtic’s half.
The Hoops had an attacking corner, but Bernardo failed to beat his first man, which led to the counter, and then the eventual goal, which frustrated Hart, as he told TNT Sports (19/02/26).
“Just losing battles in the final third of the pitch,” said Hart. “El Khannouss pouncing on it. A difficult ball into Scales. Schmeichel just jams it out.
“Tounekti dominated in the air. Trusty is just playing him on. He’s on the swivel, through bodies. Schmeichel was slightly wrong-footed, no doubt about it. A keeper of his quality will be disappointed with that one. Just jumps through Trusty’s legs. Difficult for him.
“Brilliant play (from Stuttgart). A lovely lay-off. Celtic started so well. But El Khannouss rips it past Trusty’s legs.
“I feel like it all stemmed from a disappointing corner from Bernardo. He hit the front man. Celtic were poor from that moment on.”
Bernardo’s stats for Celtic against Stuttgart
It was an interesting call from O’Neill to start Bernardo because he wasn’t even in the matchday squad for Celtic’s late show against Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Perhaps it’s an indication of how much trust O’Neill has lost in Reo Hatate, but either way, Bernardo started and played just over an hour.
It was a below-average display from the midfielder, but he will put it down to a lack of game time, as WhoScored rated his performance under six.
- Minutes: 62
- Passes: 21
- Key passes: 0
- Passing accuracy: 81%
- Crosses: 1
- Touches: 29
- Interceptions: 1
- Clearances: 2
- WhoScored rating: 5.84
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