Europa League Group Stages
Celtic 1 (Elyounoussi 76)
AC Milan 3 (Krunic 14, Diaz 42, Hauge 91)
AC Milan's first came from a cross that Laxalt allowed to be made and Krunic beat Duffy to the header. Barkas might not have been able to save it anyway but there was something very odd about his attempt to save, diving low down when the ball was going into the top corner. AC Milan's second was a breakaway and Hernandez ran past Brown in AC Milan's half then past Duffy to receive the ball in the Celtic box. Then with Ajer and Brown backing off he passed to Diaz who was up against Duffy and McGregor who was tracking back. None of them managed to get a tackle or block and he shot past Barkas.
Barkas might not have been able to do anything to stop a goal here but again his positioning was questionable. Far too much over towards the left hand side and he didn't get near the ball and it went in near the middle of the goal. Similar to the goal Rangers scored at the weekend.
AC Milan's First Goal AC Milan's Second Goal
Rangers First Goal Rangers First Goal
Ryan Christie's corner was headed home by sub Elyounoussi when it was 2-0.
Celtic had an xG of 1.00 while AC Milan had an xG of 0.96.
Celtic had 13 shots with only 2 being on target. Possession was 46% with 648 touches. Celtic had only 3 corner and touches in the box were only 14. Total Passes were 438 with a Passing accuracy of 83%.
Laxalt was man of the match due to the stats and had 82 touches, 85% passing accuracy from 39 passes, 1 key pass, 1 shot on target, 1 touch in the box, 6 successful dribbles out of 8 attempted, 6 tackles out of 7 attempted, 4 interceptions and 6 recoveries.
Celtic went with their 8th partnership in 9 games with Elyounouusi and Klimala dropped. Christie was back from self isolation buck could only manage a place on the bench.
Forrest and Jullien were still injured and Bitton, Elhamed and Edouard were still out for COVID related reasons.
Celtic lined up with;
- Barkas
- Welsh, Duffy, Ajer
- Frimpong, Ntcham, Brown, McGregor and Laxalt
- Ajeti and Griffiths
Elyounoussi, Rogic, Christie, Klimala and Taylor all came on as subs.
Celtic went to a 4231 at half time.
Key Notes; Celtic had their lowest possession this season so far at 46%, lowest touches at 648 and lowest passes at 438. Despite this Celtic did manage 13 shots, 23 crosses, 175 passes in the final third and also overall game possession was 31% in the final third. This was all an improvement on the performance versus Rangers at the weekend (of 5 shots, 18 crosses, 134 passes in the final third and 24% possession in the final third).
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