Chris Sutton has told BT Sport (broadcast on 14/9; 18:39) that Callum McGregor made a terrible mistake for the goal Celtic conceded during the first-half of their Champions League tie with Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.
The Hoops made an electric start to the game as they looked to bounce back from their opening day loss to Real Madrid. Some excellent work from Sead Haksabanovic and Reo Hatate saw Ange Postecoglou’s side take the lead inside 10 minutes.
And they had opportunities to extend their lead further. However, the next goal came from Shakhtar.
The home side grew into the contest as the half went on. And they may have perhaps been disappointed to actually go in level.
The equaliser came from a brilliant finish from Mykhaylo Mudryk, who is attracting so much attention right now. The winger lifted the ball over Joe Hart and into the top corner to level the tie.
But the opportunity only came about after McGregor over-committed in the middle of the park. The Celtic captain dived in to try and cut out a pass to Heorhiy Sudakov. However, he failed to get to the ball and the midfielder was able to slide a pass through for Mudryk to run onto.
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And when Sutton was asked about Hart’s attempt to keep the ball out, he suggested that the real mistake came earlier in the move.
“The big error there is from Callum McGregor,” he told BT Sport. “It’s a terrible, terrible decision to try and anticipate where the ball is going. If he actually just stays and lets the ball go into Sudakov, he can play back. Callum McGregor at fault for that one.”
McGregor made a terrible mistake
Of course, it would be unfair to be too harsh on McGregor. But the error does highlight just how great the demands actually are in the Champions League.
The attempt to win the ball back happened in the middle of the park. And yet, within moments, Shakhtar had the ball in the net and they had equalised.