Spanish press thrilled by "attractive" Celtic as they react to Betis battle with Stein comparison

By John McGinley

September 17, 2021

Celtic and Real Betis put on a show in the UEFA Europa League last night, with the 4-3 result thrilling Spanish observers.

In a toe-to-toe battle for the ages, Betis came back from a 2-0 deficit to eventually win the encounter. However, Celtic, with a makeshift team, made a real push for parity until the final whistle.

The best coverage came from Spanish newspaper Diario de Sevilla, whose journalist Samuel Silva suggested the match followed in the footsteps of Jock Stein’s decades-old lessons.

Silva wrote: “‘The best place to defend is the opposition area,’ said Jock Stein, Alex Ferguson’s teacher, who left many lessons to remember. And well that Betis and Celtic applied it. Every time one of the teams looked into the rival area, the noise reached the stands. The danger was sensed in two reliable teams, with an offensive outlook and that left many spaces for inspiration.”

Giant newspaper Marca described a “rollercoaster of emotions” with Miguel A. Moran writing: “Without the ball, Betis became a fragile team, at the mercy of Angelos Postecoglou’s pupils.”

Mundo Deportivo were left impressed by what was on offer from the Bhoys. Journalist Jordi Santamaria wrote: “Betis did not have control of the ball in the wide area and suffered a lot behind with the intensity and speed of the Scots.”

There was plenty of praise for Betis too of course, with many outlets recognising the defensive deficiencies of Postecoglou’s outfit.

Rafael Penida wrote in El Pais: “Betis won because they had more goals and more decisive moments, which transformed an afternoon that started in fright into a party in Heliópolis in front of more than 30,000 Betis fans. Canales, Juanmi, Fekir and Borja Iglesias finished with this Celtic team which is attractive, but without defensive consistency.”

So, nothing we don’t know, but still pleasing to see the Spanish press react with positive praise of Postecoglou’s attacking output.

Given the amount of squad problems we had last night, it was not a bad start to the group. I fancy us to be even more competitive against Betis when they visit Glasgow in December.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou issues promising Celtic squad update.