| Match Pictures | Matches: 2018 – 2019 | 2018-19 Pictures |
Trivia
- UEFA Cup,
Group Stage: Round 3 - Celtic very poor in this game, competed for 25 mins then collapsed.
- Celtic 3rd in the group and must defeat Leipzig in next game to keep chances alive to progress.
- Fans were good away (Leipzig is 1 hour from Berlin).
- Brown/Griffiths out injured. Same with Benkovic (on bench) etc.
- Was Brendan Rodgers resting players for Sunday's League Cup semi-final?
- Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers rubbishes Leigh Griffiths ‘AWOL’ rumours
Review![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/0ca928185f7380bc01fdc2d3f79031e1 "[Untitled]")
Can’t get too upset at Christie or Gamboa. Their are lower SPL quality and did their best. Kouassi and Morgan have more potential but have had little game time.
I am more annoyed with McGregor, Ntcham, Edouard, Boyata and Tierney. They all have the talent. All did some good things tonight, but none came near to hitting the standards we need in games like this.
McGregor was really poor. He is ‘famed’ for his ability to keep possession but didn’t even do that very well. He certainly didn’t impose himself. Ntcham needs to wake up. Not sure if he is just mentally lazy but he reacts too slowly to what is going on and too often fails to anticipate danger. Edouard has to improve his hold up play. For a big lad with his talent he’s awful at it.
All in all a number of players need to give themselves a shake.
Still expect us to thump Hertz on Sunday
. I cannot share the feeling of some other fans that the only game that counts is Sunday's and the chance of winning another cup even if given our current poor state it is the most realistic position to take.
To me this is backwards. Singing 'Treble, Treble' might be fun for a season but it hardly does us favours in the long-run.
For a team with our finances and position; Europe is the only place we can gauge where we are and see where we should be. It is the place where we should challenging ourselves, putting down markers and advertising ourselves.
If we carry on like we are then qualifying will continue to get harder and harder. We will ride the good times nose first right into the dirt.
Yes. There are 13-14 players in the squad who need to go.
It seems clear that we have accumulated far too many who are overpaid and under worked. They are dragging us down.
And yes this is both Brendan's fault and the Ceo/board's fault. They need to get over whatever issues they have been having and start fixing it.
We have the money, the facilities and the platform to do much better than we are.
The club need to make a Statement of intent and start work tomorrow in order to make the first changes by the next window.
No Celtic fan should be subjected to displays like this as if it's 'good enough'.
Teams
RB Leipzig
- 28Mvogo
- 16Klostermann
- 4Orban
- 5Upamecano
- 3Saracchi
- 7Sabitzer Substituted forIlsankerat 61'minutesBooked at 65mins
- · 27LaimerBooked at 89mins
- · 44Kampl
- · Substituted forMajetschakat 84'minutes
- · 29Augustin Substituted forPoulsenat 90+1'minutes
- 20Santos Carneiro Da Cunha
- 17Tué Na Bangna
Substitutes
- 9Poulsen
- 11Werner
- 13Ilsanker
- 21Müller
- 22Mukiele
- 23Halstenberg
- 40Majetschak
- Santos Carneiro Da Cunha (31' minutes),
- Tué Na Bangna (35' minutes)
Celtic
- 1Gordon
- 12Gamboa Substituted forLustigat 45'minutes
· 5Simunovic Substituted forHendryat 75'minutes
· 20BoyataBooked at 86mins
· 63Tierney
· 42McGregor
· 88Kouassi
· 17Christie
· 21Ntcham
· 22Edouard
- 3Izaguirre
- 4Hendry
- 11Sinclair
- 15Hayes
- 23Lustig
- 29Bain
- 32Benkovic
Referee: Pavel Královec
Attendance: 38,126
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Forum
MOTM
- Voting Thread
- Result Thread
- Winner –
Stats
RB LeipzigAway TeamCeltic
Possession
Home51%
Away49%
Shots
Home19
Away7
Shots on Target
Home3
Away1
Corners
Home5
Away2
Fouls
Home13
Away12
Articles
RB Leipzig 2 – 0 Celtic: Hosts cruise past undermanned Celtic
Matheus Cunha celebrates after opening the scoring. Picture: AP
Matheus Cunha celebrates after opening the scoring. Picture: AP
Published: 19:57 Thursday 25 October 2018
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/rb-leipzig-2-0-celtic-hosts-cruise-past-undermanned-celtic-1-4820079
Celtic’s Europa League hopes took another bruising in a 2-0 defeat by RB Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena.
A makeshift Hoops side shorn of several top stars made an encouraging start to the Group B match but were punished for defensive lapses, first on the half-hour mark by striker Matheus Cunha and again minutes later by attacker Bruma before the home side cruised their way through the second half.
Brendan Rodgers’ men lost 3-1 to Salzburg in their previous European fixture and the Austrian side top the section with full points after their win over bottom side Rosenborg.
Celtic have three points from nine and host Leipzig, who have six points, next month but first face a crucial Betfred Cup semi-final against Hearts at Murrayfield on Sunday.
It was always going to be tough for the Scottish champions, who had not previously won away from home in 13 Europa League group games and never in Germany.
Hampered by the absence of Tom Rogic, James Forrest, Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths, Kristoffer Ajer and Youssouf Mulumbu through injury or suspension – and Filip Benkovic was fit only for the bench – Rodgers made five changes to the side that beat Hibernian 4-2 at the weekend.
Cristian Gamboa, Jozo Simunovic, Eboue Kouassi, Ryan Christie and Lewis Morgan all came in, the latter making his first start.
Leipzig coach Ralf Rangnick made eight changes from the weekend Bundesliga draw away to Augsburg with only captain Willi Orban, Slovenia midfielder Kevin Kampl and France Under-21 striker Jean-Kevin Augustin keeping their places.
A tannoy plea to the 5,000 or so Celtic fans to stop their pyrotechnics display came before kick-off, which saw the visitors having to defend three early corners.
However, it was Celtic who first came close to opening the scoring on a swift break, where Morgan picked out striker Odsonne Edouard who screwed a shot from 12 yards inches wide of the far post.
Celtic slowly grew in confidence but were made to pay the price for poor defending with half an hour played.
When Kouassi and defender Dedryck Boyata both missed a straightforward cross into the box by Marcel Sabitzer, Cunha gleefully drove past Craig Gordon from 12 yards.
Four minutes later the Parkhead keeper was picking the ball out of the net again, this time when his defence failed to deal with a Marcelo Saracchi cross, with Portugal international Bruma, who had scored against Gordon in the 3-1 friendly win over Scotland earlier in the month, rifling in from 14 yards.
RB Leipzig will take on Celtic in the Europa League. Picture: Getty
RB Leipzig poke fun at Rangers fans on Twitter prior to Celtic clash
Right-back Mikael Lustig replaced the injured Gamboa for the start of the second half, which began with Kampl firing wide from a Sabitzer delivery before midfielder Konrad Laimer missed the target from inside the box with only Gordon to beat.
In the 64th minute another mistake by Boyata in needlessly conceding possession to Cunha ended with Gordon touching Augustin’s drive from 18 yards on to the post.
There was further collateral damage to Celtic in the 73rd minute as Simunovic picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Jack Hendry, before Leipzig keeper Yvon Mvogo blocked a shot from Olivier Ntcham with his foot to deny the Hoops midfielder a goal that might have made the final minutes more tense.
However, in the final analysis, the Glasgow giants now have it all to do if they hope to qualify out of their section.
What German newspapers said about Celtic's performance against RB Leipzig
Remaining Time -0:52
Finlay Greig
Published: 14:47 Friday 26 October 2018
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/what-german-newspapers-said-about-celtic-s-performance-against-rb-leipzig-1-4820471
The German press have reacted to Celtic's defeat at the hands of RB Leipzig, unanimously agreeing that the Bundesliga side were deserved winners.
Rheinpfalz set the tone for the German media's opinion of Celtic, describing Rodgers' side as "nothing more than an average opponent."
Deutsche Welle, meanwhile claimed that the Scots were "overburdened with the games fast pace and emphasis on short passing play".
Spox: 'Kouassi flop of the match'
Until the first goal, however, Spox suggested that the game was evenly matched, citing an early Edouard miss as a turning point.
Journalist Stefan Petri said: "It took a blatant defensive mistake to give Leipzig the lead via Cunha, quickly followed by a second to make for a double strike. Celtic were then out of sorts and barely got away from their own penalty area and in truth Leipzig's lead could have been higher by the break.
"At the beginning of the second half Leipzig played forward and had further opportunities to put them 3-0 up: Gordon first prevented Kampl and Laimer, before Augustin was denied by the post.
"From there on RB were happy to slow the game down, while Celtic simply lacked the means to change the game. With five minutes left goalkeeper Mvogo had to make a save for the first time.
Petri reserved particular criticism for Eboue Kouassi, awarding him the title of 'flop of the match'.
He said: "the six was the preferred pressing target and made it so difficult for Celtic to organise their game going forward. He made a crucial mistake in the build up to the first goal and was arguably at fault for the second.
Sports.de: 'Celtic had nothing to offer'
Looking ahead to the pair's second meeting in a fortnight, Sports.de suggested that RB Leipzig would be feeling confident about picking up a result.
Their match report read: "In two weeks, on the 8th of November, the return leg will take place in Glasgow's Celtic Park.
Jozo Simunovic sustained an injury during the Europa League match against RB Leipzig and is a doubt for Sunday. Picture: Getty Images
Scottish Football Live: Celtic injury worries, Neil Lennon targeted by Europa League side, Gerrard proud of Rangers
"The 49-time Scottish champion certainly won't give up despite the disappointing performance. But In the first duel Celtic but had nothing to order and Leipzig confirmed their good form of recent weeks."
Kicker: 'Formation change swung the game'
Kicker ladled praise on RB Leipzig's manager Ralf Rangnick, claiming it was his tactical change that swung the game in the Saxons' favour.
They said: "A tactical change of Rangnick then brought the turn in favor of the home side: After about 20 minutes, the RBL coach of 4-2-2-2 on 4-3-3.
Bruma moved into a more central role, while Laimer occupied the number six role.
The move was immediately effective. From then on, only Leipzig was in the game, and had the guests, especially in the centre under control.
By Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport
From the section Europa League 162
Matheus Cunha celebrates opening the scoring for Leipzig
Matheus Cunha opened the scoring for Leipzig
Celtic's Europa League hopes were dented after the concession of two sloppy goals in four first-half minutes against RB Leipzig in Germany.
Both sides were well short of full strength, but the Bundesliga club's superior depth of squad told.
Celtic looked to have survived early Leipzig pressure until Matheus Cunha fired the opener on the half-hour mark.
A deflected Bruma shot doubled the lead and a fine Craig Gordon save denied Jean-Kevin Augustin a third.
Leipzig coach Ralf Rangnick had said before kick-off that the two sides were effectively vying for second place behind Group B leaders RB Salzburg.
And the Germans' victory, combined with the Austrians retaining their 100% record with a 2-0 win over Rosenborg, puts them three points ahead of Celtic.
Celtic can beat Leipzig at home – Rodgers
Reaction & as it happened
Quiz: Name Celtic's scorers against German teams
Same old story for Celtic
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers had said after Sunday's thrilling 4-2 win over Hibernian that his side were beginning to rediscover their form.
However, shorn of captain Scott Brown, Tom Rogic and James Forrest through injury and suspension, a first win in 12 matches in Germany always looked a tall order.
Celtic's defensive record away from home from Europe also made it seem unlikely and so it proved, with the Scottish champions now having kept just five clean sheets in 19 away games under Rodgers.
In that time, they have conceded an average of two goals per game and they maintained that record as Leipzig extended their unbeaten run to seven games.
Eboue Kouassi started impressively in a rare start in midfield, but when he and Dedryck Boyata failed to cut out Marcel Sabitzer's cross, Cunha fired past Gordon.
Cristian Gamboa had also been drafted in and, when the right-back dived into a challenge on Marcelo Saracchi, the Argentine was free to deliver a cross that fell kindly for Bruma to finish powerfully past Gordon, just as he did in Portugal's friendly win over Scotland earlier this month.
Rangnick had retained just three of the side that drew with Augsburg in the Bundesliga, but they still had too much for Celtic. Konrad Laimer flashed a drive wide after the break and Augustin had a shot flicked on to a post by Gordon.
Celtic's opportunities were limited. Lewis Morgan, the winger handed a first start, set up Odsonne Edouard for an early shot across the face of goal, but thereafter Celtic offered little threat until the wasteful Olivier Ntcham fired straight at goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo late on.
Evidence of Celtic standing still? – analysis
Leipzig's Bruma celebrates his goal
Bruma beat Celtic's Craig Gordon for the second time this month
BBC Scotland's Jonathan Sutherland at the Red Bull Arena
There were positives for Celtic, mainly in the first half-hour when the fringe players started in confident fashion and the formation more or less contained the Germans. But all of that now counts for very little.
After the weekend win over Hibernian, Rodgers suggested Celtic had "stood still" in the summer. This felt like an example of that. A Celtic team shorn of key players was not fully equipped with the required strength in depth to make an impact in a match that mattered.
Given the potential for the head-to-head record to be decisive in the group, Celtic now really have to beat Leipzig by at least 2-0 in the return game at Celtic Park if they want to progress. On this evidence, that will be a very stiff test indeed come 8 November.
Match stats
Celtic have won just one of their last 19 group stage games away from home in Europe (W1 D6 L12);
Excluding qualifiers, Celtic have kept a clean sheet in just one of their last 27 away European games;
The goals were Leipzig's first two shots on target;
Celtic didn't muster a shot on target until Olivier Ntcham's 85th-minute attempt;
Cunha has score