Last night’s defeat to Lazio was a really sore one for the Celtic fans to take. A list minute goal by Pedro broke 60,000 hearts at Paradise as the Hoops slumped to their second defeat in the group stages.
They were both asked on TNT Sports post-match if the challenge on Celtic midfielder, Reo Hatate, should have been looked at by the officials and they were both in agreement.
Here is what the two Celtic legends said:
Petrov: “Of course. For me, I do believe this should be looked at and it was definitely a red card. You can see the intention there.
“You can see the player knows what exactly he’s doing and it definitely has to be looked at.”
Lennon: “Shocking. It’s shocking. The more you look at it, the more I think it’s a red card. It’s a forearm in Hatate’s face.
“As Stiliyan says, he knows exactly what he’s doing. For me, it may have been accidental, but it’s still reckless.
“And then when they see it from that angle, it’s a red card. So what they’re looking at I don’t know.”
Another hard luck story in Europe for Celtic
The long and short of it? Celtic were just not good enough to beat Lazio last night. The team played very well so there is still a lot to be positive about.
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But the quality in the final third was lacking. The final ball and delivery let Celtic down last night and that is a lesson that Brendan Rodgers will need to take heed of heading into the January window.
Celtic are three players from being able to compete at this level. Quality must be brought in to help future European progress as it already looks too late this season.
The Celtic fans can be immensely proud of what they saw last night. Liam Scales, Matt O’Riley and Nat Phillips played extremely well. At least that bodes well for the rest of the campaign.
In other news, ‘Sickening’: Chris Sutton’s instant reaction after Celtic lose to Lazio tonight