If Celtic’s quest to reach the Champions League ends in a Greek tragedy club directors will find public sympathy hard to come by.
Scotland’s champions are not out of the Champions League yet. It’s too soon to begin preparations for an unappealing Europa League play-off in Lithuania or Latvia. Yet a night of frustration in Glasgow’s east end will inevitably trigger a first leg post mortem likely to dominate the run-up to Tuesday’s return in Athens.
The charge sheet against the plc board is topped by accusations of failing to close deals for quality players capable of securing group stage football for a third successive year.
Callum McGregor (pictured) celebrates scoring Celtic’s opener against AEK Athens
McGregor’s strike in the 17th minute put Celtic in the lead in the Champions League qualifier
Celtic midfielder McGregor finds the back of the night with a precise left-footed finish
AEK Athens equalised just before the half-time whistle through midfielder Viktor Klonaridis
Klonaridis (front) is mobbed by his team-mates after scoring a vital goal in first leg
Australian winger Daniel Arzani and old bhoy Emilio Izaguirre will sign deals in the next 48 hours. After losing Hibs midfielder John McGinn to Aston Villa, however, cries of ‘too little, too late’ will only grow in intensity if Celtic crash out in Athens.
Brendan Rodgers remained defiant after this 1-1 draw. The Celtic boss believes his players can secure a play-off tie against Malmo or Vidi of Hungary. If he’s wrong – and AEK’s formidable record against Scottish sides suggests he could be – the odds of directors facing a guilty verdict in the court of public opinion increase greatly.
Against a deep-lying, counter-attacking AEK side reduced to 10 men after 57 minutes by a red card for midfielder Konstantinos Gainopoulos Celtic lacked the penetration to take a second leg lead to Greece despite an early goal for big-game player Callum McGregor.
An equaliser for Victor Klonaridis before half-time was the defensive calamity supporters always feared. And failure to prevail in the intimidating environs of the Olympic Stadium in Athens will inevitably paint a target on the back of the chief executive Peter Lawwell and the plc board.
Konstantinos Galanopoulos is dismissed for a second yellow card offence at Celtic Park
AEK Athens players surrounded Italian referee Luca Banti to protest against the decision
Galanopoulas (pictured) cuts a dejected figure following his sending off against Celtic
‘We threw everything at the end,’ said Rodgers. Attacking players.
‘It’s just that final pass and that bit of luck sometimes where you need it to drop for you when there are so many bodies behind. It’s never easy.
‘But the effort of the players and some of the quality we showed throughout the night was very good. We would have liked to have got the second goal but it didn’t come for us.’
When the home team took the lead in 17 minutes the omens looked more promising.
Callum McGregor has become Celtic’s man for the big occasion. The go-to figure for significant goals.
The Scotland international struck aginst Bayern Munich in the Champions League last season. Then Zenit St Petersburg in the last 32 of the Europa League.
Referee Luca Banti’s foam can explodes after being stood on by Celtic’s Olivier Ntcham
Kieran Tierney was back in the Celtic side after being courted by Everton and Fulham
Celtic winger James Forrest shoots in vain as he looks for a breakthrough on Wednesday
Smashing Celtic into a 17th minute lead here he did it again.
Yet the blow inflicted by AEK a minute before half-time can’t be overstated.
Buried beneath the furore over his transfer comments, Rodgers had a clear goal here.
Score a goal or two, run over the top of a team playing their first competitive game and, whatever it took, keep a clean sheet.
When McGregor found time and space to smash the ball into the corner of the net past AEK keeper Vasileios Barkas it seemed the plan was coming together.
In the opening half hour Celtic seemed comfortable. Kieran Tierney was enjoying the run of the left flank. Celtic were pressing the visitors to distraction, harrying them off their stride.
Tierney found space for a low shot spilled by Barkas, Odsonne Edouard’s delightful lay-off then teed up McGregor for a rising shot pushed over by the visiting keeper.
Celtic fans look on during the Champions League Qualifier against AEK Athens on Wednesday
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers (right) looks on during his side’s match against AEK Athens
Knocking loudly on the door it was a matter of time before Celtic scored. The goal came when Tierney – again – found space on the flank. His low centre deflected into the path of McGregor the midfielder with a nose for goal spinning and thrashing the ball into the far corner to prompt bedlam around Celtic Park.
Yet the root of the simmering discontent underlying discontent over transfers isn’t hard to find.
Once again Celtic entered the most important games of their season with a makeshift, improvised, inexperienced defence. They survived two games against Rosenborg. The reckoning finally came a minute before half-time here when the Greek champions struck.
After their ropey start, there was a warning from the visitors six minutes before half-time when Helder Lopes gathered on the left and forced Craig Gordon into a save with dipping right foot shot.
They were level by the interval. Lopes was the catalyst again, refusing to give up a lost cause at the corner flag as Mikael Lustig – drafted into the right side of a three man defence – tried to usher the ball safely out of play.
The 1-1 draw leaves Celtic’s hopes of qualifying delicately poised ahead of the return leg
The No 3 managed to hook the ball into the 18 yard area in hope rather genuine expectation. Kris Ajer should have dealt with it, but ball-watched as Belgian attacker Victor Klonaridis had all the time and space he needed to lash the ball high into the net past Gordon from 12 yards.
As a Celtic centre half Ajer has visibly grown under Brendan Rodgers. Yet the Norwegian’s night went from bad to worse when he lunged into a challenge on Marko Livaja early in the second half. The booking had consequences; he now misses the second leg in Athens.
He won’t be the only one, of course.
Celtic’s attempts to regain their first half momentum were aided by a dismissal for AEK midfielder Konstantinos Gainopoulos after two yellow cards for two cynical fouls in seven second-half minutes.
The No 25 was booked first for chopping Tom Rogic in half five minutes into the second half. Italian referee Luca Banti was duty bound to flash red to when the same player took out James Forrest in his own half after 57 minutes.
The dismissal made no real difference to how the champions of Greece approached the game. If anything it removed any pretence of an attacking threat.
Rodgers leads his players in applauding the home crowd at Celtic Park
Scott Brown (left), Tierney and McGregor trudge off the pitch after the match
Armed with their away goal the 1-1 scoreline suited the visitors fine. The same couldn’t be said of Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths pushed on for Rogic before quickly heading a Forrest cross from the byline a yard over the bar.
Despite two late Olivier Ntcham efforts the home team found it imposssible to break down the wall of yellow and black shirts embedded in the visiting penalty area.
‘That’s how AEK play,’ added Rodgers. ‘They’ll play like that out there as well. They play deep, 4-4-2, compact. The sending off didn’t really change that side of it but it makes their mentality a little bit more defensive, I suppose.
‘We continued to dominate the ball and get into really good areas. We had opportunities but we weren’t clinical enough to take them.
‘Prior to the game, we knew they were a good side. But we proved we are a good side and we can go over there and get a result.’