Martin O’Neill reveals what Celtic found ‘impossible’ before Aston Villa rapid-fire early double in Champions League clash

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It was a game that had virtually everything you could want from a Champions League tie last night.

Certainly for the neutrals, anyway.

Celtic fought tooth and nail against Aston Villa with Adam Idah clawing back a two goal deficit to level at 2-2 before half-time.

It was a pulsating evening of football with Ollie Watkins and a Morgan Rogers hat-trick completing the 4-2 win for the hosts in the end, but Brendan Rodgers was proud of his team for giving as good as they got for the most part.

Rogers had helped Villa race into a two goal lead within five minutes of the first-half kick-off with a strike from a cutback and then a vicious effort from outside the area that was deflected off Liam Scales and beyond Kasper Schmeichel.

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Celtic lost cheap possession for Aston Villa goal

But for as good as Villa were early on in the game, Celtic at times were found guilty of being the architects of their own downfall.

And that, for former manager Martin O’Neill, was exactly what transpired for Rogers’ second goal after Kasper Schmeichel had been given the ball following the frantic start in the West Midlands.

O’Neill accused Celts of attempting to play out from the back as they usually would in domestic football with Scottish Premiership opponents perhaps less likely to pile on the pressure for fear of being countered.

Yet Unai Emery’s side did not have that worry and they pressed to good effect.

O’Neill claimed it was “impossible” to play out and when Reo Hatate conceded possession there was only ever going to be one outcome.

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“If that (first goal) wasn’t bad enough for Celtic, this happened within seconds,” O’Neill told TNT Sports.

“They tried to play it out the back which was an impossibility, Hatate has played a poor ball but Rogers is onto it again and confidence is up from the first goal.

“He gets a bit of a deflection off Scales and into the net.

“What a start for Aston Villa and a desperate start for Celtic.”

Ollie Watkins missed a spot-kick after a contentious Auston Trusty challenge on the night in the match which had it all.

It also teed Celts up for a glamour tie in the knockouts.