Thierry Henry and Micah Richards disagreed about Joe Hart’s role in Celtic conceding the opening goal during their 2-0 Champions League defeat to Feyenoord on Tuesday night.
Before the madness of the two red cards, Calvin Stengs’ long-range free-kick sucker-punched the Bhoys just before the break.
One of the big talking points was the role Joe Hart played, with many thinking that Celtic’s number one should have saved the effort, including legendary striker, Thierry Henry, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (19/09/23 at 10:40 pm).
The former Arsenal striker made it clear ‘you should never concede a goal like that, keeper’, but Micah Richards was quick to defend his former Manchester City teammate.
Richards pointed towards the wall and how Joe Hart ‘obviously wasn’t happy’ and ‘you can’t blame the keeper’ because he saw it ‘late’.
Amid the criticism of Hart, the former right-back was also quick to mention Hart’s penalty save in the second half, which in the end, was overshadowed by the red cards and overall defeat.
Should Joe Hart have saved the free-kick?
“If you could say it was going to sting Celtic, and it did,” said Henry. “I mean, you should never concede a goal like that, keeper.”
Richards responded: “He obviously wasn’t happy with the wall. You could see. If the wall was in the right position, he couldn’t react until late.”
Henry interrupted: “I know, that’s why he (Hart) put the wall.”
Richards added: “Joe Hart, you see him afterwards. They moved (the wall). You can’t blame the keeper for that. He saw it late. It can happen to anyone.”
TH: “I think he can do better.”
MR: “Look at the wall. He’s not happy with the wall.”
TH: “Is that your friend?”
MR:” Maybe,” laughed the former Manchester City player.
After replays of Hart’s penalty save came up, Richards quickly added and chuckled: “You don’t want to mention that, though?”
TH: “Well done, well done. It was a great save.”
Gutting defeat, but Celtic go again!
Celtic actually started the game fairly well, including Reo Hatate sparkling to life on occasions, if just the decision-making was better in the final third, then life would have been more uncomfortable for Feyenoord.
The Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm red cards will be one of the main talking points.
But before all of that, there were signs that, in front of a raucous crowd at Celtic Park, things could and will be a lot different.
It’s just frustrating that, once again, Celtic failed to make an impact on the road in Europe.
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