"We
need a miracle now. That's the harsh reality of Champions League football.”
Those were the words of a disconsolate Neil Lennon after watching his Celtic
side succumb to a classic smash and grab effort from Juventus, which sees
Antonio Conte’s men virtually guaranteed to be in the draw for the quarter
finals of Europe’s premier club competition.
In his post-match comments,
Lennon did not disguise the fact that despite a rousing display from his
players, Celtic’s European campaign ended the moment Mirko Vucinic stroked in
Juve’s third goal.
The silence that greeted the
Montenegrin’s strike is the soundtrack to a classic European away performance
by the Italians who came to Glasgow and well and truly pricked the bubble of
anticipation and excitement that had enveloped Parkhead prior to kick-off.
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| Lennon needs a miracle |
Alessandro Matri was the
chief ‘prick’ (so to speak) on the night, although Juve’s midfielder Stephan
Lichtsteiner probably incurred the wrath of Celtic’s fans the most for his
antics in the visitor’s six yard box which could and should have seen the home
side awarded at least one penalty for blatant obstruction and shirt pulling by the
Swiss player.
However, it was the young
Matri who influenced the outcome of this match, capitalising on Efe Ambrose’s
defensive lapse to poke the ball under the onrushing Fraser Forster after just
three minutes before a sublime touch played in Claudio Marchisio 13 minutes
from the end to make it two nil.
Up until then Celtic had
been on top in terms of possession and territory but, in truth, they never really
threatened Gianluigi Buffon’s goal apart from a tame Ambrose header from six
yards out that will be giving the Nigerian nightmares during his overdue sleep, following his exploits in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday.
Indeed, it was Ambrose’s
doziness that ultimately cost his side, and Lennon’s decision to start him
despite the big defender only arriving back in Glasgow from Johannesburg on the
morning of the game was a gamble that didn’t pay off.
The rest of the Celtic
players certainly made up for any lack of energy that Ambrose may have been
suffering as they pressed the Juventus players hard, closing down space and
snapping into tackles. Scott Brown epitomised the Celtic effort and threatened
to ruffle the preening feathers of Andrea Pirlo in the first half when he
crunched into the Italian twice in the space of a minute.
Seconds later, Pirlo picked
up possession on the edge of the centre circle and almost picked out Matri with
a gloriously angled and weighted through ball.
And it was this little
snapshot of the game that summed up the difference between the two sides and
illustrates what Lennon referred to as the “harsh reality” of football at this
level.
For all of Celtic’s high pressure
high octane play, roared on by a frenzied crowd, Pirlo and his Juve teammates soaked
up everything the home side threw at them before ruthlessly applying the sucker
punch. Classic Juventus, classic Italian.
Of course, for the likes of
Pirlo, Matri and Marchisio to have the licence to conjure, there needs to be a
solid platform at the back; step forward Bonucci, Barzagli and Peluso.
Despite sounding more like
fedora-clad hitmen from the streets of prohibition Chicago, Juve’s back three hate
shooting – specifically, allowing the opposition to.
While Celtic rarely
threatened to play through the visitor’s defence, they did fire over a number
of inviting crosses and balls into the box but more often than not they were
met by the head or foot of one of the Juve back three. These guys love
defending.
In recent weeks, the Turin
side have lost some of their defensive solidity in Serie A but with their
captain and best defender Georgio Chiellini set to return from a calf injury by
the end of February, that backline is set to become mean again.
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| Juve's midfield maestro Pirlo |
Juventus are a serious
outfit. Barring a meltdown of AC Milan Champion’s League final 2005’
proportions, they will see off Celtic in the return leg. They have already
disposed of European champions Chelsea during the group stages of this season’s
competition and lead Serie A by five points. Six of their first team started
the Euro 2012 final for Italy.
The only area that has been a
cause for concern to Juventus fans this season has been up front. Despite Vucinic returning to the goal scoring charts more regularly
in recent weeks, and the acquisition of Nicolas Anelka on loan, the common
consensus is that Conte has limited striking options (Nicklas Bendtner) which
may ultimately hinder Juve in the latter stages of the Champions League.
Still, she may be a bit toothless
up front, but the Old Lady of Italian football has not bitten off more than she
can chew just yet.
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