Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou absolved his goalkeeper Joe Hart of blame for last night’s 3-1 defeat in Germany after the Englishman’s error gifted RB Leipzig their second goal.
The Scottish champions looked to have survived a scare after Dominik Szoboszlai had a whipped finish from outside of the box ruled out for offside, but the VAR announcement had barely sounded before the ball was in Celtic’s net again.
Under no pressure, Hart passed the ball straight to Szoboszlai who set up Andre Silva for an easy finish, the Portuguese forward would score a third to seal three points for Marco Rose’s side later in the match, but Postecoglou was reticent to criticise his goalkeeper outwith the rest of his team.
As reported by Football Scotland, he said: “I just felt it was creeping in before that. After we scored we wanted to settle for that and started passing the ball back to him [Hart].
“It is about what is the lead-up to the mistake, are we playing our football. Are we showing the same sort of endeavour we were before then?
“I could see it coming, if it wasn’t Joe making the mistake today it would have been someone else.”
The Aussie urged his side to not settle for safety, with Leipzig seizing control of the game after Jota’s well-crafted equaliser in the second half.
“At this level, if you play for survival that’s all you ever get – you never really get anywhere,” he said.
“It’s not about the mistake. It’s about before then. We had a lot of the ball and we were just passing it back to him for no reason.
“You are doing what you think is safe but it’s not really what we are.”
Last night’s result makes next Tuesday’s return leg against the Bundesliga side hugely significant for both sides’ chances of progression to the Champions League knockout phase, with Celtic on a single point and Leipzig picking up their first three of the competition.
A win for either side followed by a win over Shakhtar Donetsk would be enough to secure progression assuming that Real Madrid win their remaining games, with 2nd place in Group F wide open after three games.
Celtic face St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Saturday before next Tuesday’s return leg, and will have to make do without their captain Callum McGregor who is suspended after his red card against Motherwell.
In other news: Celtic’s Champions League reality after sobering Leipzig defeat
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