Celtic’s upcoming Europa League match against Rennes on Thursday is their first trip to Roazhon Park since a 1-1 draw in the same competition in 2011.
The match ended in a creditable 1-1 draw for the Hoops. But that isn’t the incident that is most remembered from the game.
That is the bizarre own goal Celtic scored to give Rennes the lead. Cha Du-Ri’s backpass went past Fraser Forster and into the Celtic net. The Hoops managed to get over that catastrophe though, and fought back to earn a point. Joe Ledley’s header provided the equaliser in what ended up being a creditable night in Europe for the club.
Now Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who managed the Hoops in that game, has been giving his recollections of that moment to Celtic TV.
“We came away with a very good draw”
“I remember the own goal. Fraser and Cha, had a bit of a misunderstanding. Joe Ledley equalised…we played very well. We came away with a very good draw.”
Would the Celtic boss take another draw if offered one seven years later? The answer to that is probably ‘yes’. It is important that the Hoops avoid defeat in their opening group stage match. They do not want to be playing catch-up after only one game.
Similar scoreline would be a decent result for the Hoops
Therefore, a draw in the first group game would be a decent result for the Hoops. It would give the team a platform to build on going forward. With the next game in the group at home to Cluj, the Hoops will be looking for four points at least from the two games.
Hopefully on this occasion the team manages to avoid scoring any bizarre own goals though.
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