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Chris Sutton was left bitterly disappointed after Celtic suffered a 3-1 loss in Europe on Thursday night, albeit he did give credit to two players for their contribution.
Neil Lennon’s side were beaten by Italian giants AC Milan at Parkhead in the first match of their Europa League group and they’ve now got plenty of work to do to qualify.
It was the club’s latest defeat, as they were also beaten last weekend by their greatest rivals Rangers in the Old Firm league fixture.
Despite having a strong start to the season, the Scottish champions have just hit a bump in the road during the last week and they’ve got another big obstacle on Sunday when they travel to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen.
Pundit and ex-Bhoys forward Sutton was not pleased on after his former club’s defeat on the European stage, but felt that left wing-back Diego Laxalt and attacking midfielder Tom Rogic deserved some praise for their contribution.
Laxalt was a real bright spark against his parent club with some real intent in wide areas, while Rogic came on during the second-half as a substitute to inject some energy and extra creative flair.
No doubt Neil Lennon will regret not going with a back 4… Laxalt very good and good to see Rogic back with some nice touches… can’t get away from it though another disappointing night for Celtic…
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73)
TBR’s View:
Celtic’s draw for the Europa League groups stages looked extremely tough when it happened and a defeat in their first match already puts them under pressure.
Milan are favourites to top the group, but there is also Lille and Sparta Prague to contend with.
Lennon’s side travel to France to face Lille next Thursday and are going to be big underdogs there, which is why they are going to need one of their famous European performances to get out of trouble.
It’s so important to win your home games if you want to qualify and of course Celtic will battle to get out of the group, but it’s a sizeable task and right now supporters would surely be more focused on the league.