Celtic 0 Borussia Mönchengladbach 2
Borussia Mönchengladbach arrived in Glasgow depleted but left with three points. Celtic's hopes of a Europa League place beyond Christmas were dealt a blow, the most jarring thing for their manager, Brendan Rodgers, perhaps being the vast gulf between the disrupted Bundesliga team and their hitherto buoyant hosts.
Celtic lacked purpose going forward and, ultimately, were error-strewn in defence. How Mönchengladbach gleefully took advantage, in succeeding where Manchester City could not. Rodgers can only hope for a brisk turnaround by the time these teams meet in Germany, otherwise bottom place in Group C almost certainly awaits.
There is a raft of overstated nonsense before fixtures such as these regarding how Celtic’s home crowd can intimidate high-level opposition. In this specific instance, Mönchengladbach are hardly accustomed to playing in soulless venues. That said, there is little question that the Champions League atmosphere here commonly inspires Celtic to play at a level beyond the apparent sum of their parts. Mönchengladbach also arrived with a questionable away record.
Yet it was the visitors, backed by a wonderfully boisterous support of their own, who opened by far the brighter. The pick of three attacks within the first five minutes sent André Hahn marauding through on goal, only a fine Kolo Touré challenge denying the striker.
The start was hectic, with Celtic struggling to find any attacking rhythm before earning a long-range free-kick, tipped wide by Yann Sommer from Nir Bitton. Mönchengladbach's promise was all the more worthy of credit given the makeshift nature of their team and stuttering domestic form. Craig Gordon was soon required to halt the German club, with a fine low stop to deny Ibrahima Traoré and with acrobatics to bat away a Jonas Hofmann attempt.
With 45 minutes played, Celtic were toiling to impose themselves. Solace could be taken only from the fact Mönchengladbach hadn't endorsed their superiority with a goal. This did a disservice to André Schubert's team, who were slick and purposeful when in Celtic territory. The half-time scoreline could have been even less reflective of play had Scott Sinclair not spurned a glorious chance just two minutes before the break. Tom Rogic had created the opportunity with a wonderful, angled pass.
The interval didn't stem Mönchengladbach's confidence. Tobias Strobl curled narrowly wide of Gordon's left hand post eight minutes after the restart, in concluding a move which had emanated from merely the latest misplaced Bitton pass. Celtic's stars, at this juncture, remained in defence.
That was soon to change. Toure, when trying to shepherd the ball out of play, had his pocket picked by Hahn. From the subsequent cut-back, Lars Stindl lashed the ball through Gordon's legs and into the net. For all Toure was casual, nobody could dispute Mönchengladbach's value for their lead. It was almost doubled instantly, Erik Sviatchenko this time saving Celtic as Hahn prepared to shoot for goal.
The Rodgers response was understandably to remove the hapless Bitton, with Callum McGregor introduced. More interesting was Celtic's second change as Leigh Griffiths entered the fray in a bid to add potency to an ineffectual attack. Three home substitutes were complete with 17 minutes to play with the arrival of the Manchester City loanee Patrick Roberts.
None of this made any difference. Toure was again culpable in easily conceding possession, this time to the impressive Hahn. The 26-year-old had two defenders in pursuit but couldn’t be caught before firing high past Gordon.
Monchengladbach had been strong enough without Celtic playing such a key part in their own downfall. The Germans saw out the closing stages with blissful ease. It was a comfortable night for them.
(Guardian service)
