Celtic’s Europa League campaign effectively started on Tuesday under the guise of their final Champions League group stage match.
Heading into the match, they needed only avoid a three-goal defeat to drop into Europe’s second-tier competition, a simple task on paper that they found far more complicated to achieve in reality.
The history books will suggest that Celtic’s 7-1 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain a fortnight ago was their low point of an unsuccessful Champions League group stage campaign, but in truth the Hoops’ 1-0 home defeat against Anderlecht offered their most disappointing performance for long periods.
So poor were the home side in the opening period, Brendan Rodgers elected to replace both Stuart Armstrong and Scott Sinclair at the interval, though in truth the manager could have replaced almost any of his starting XI, who had an abject beginning to the match that was in total contrast to their explosive beginning in Paris, where Moussa Dembele fired them ahead within a minute.
Expected to impose themselves against opponents they had already defeated 3-0 away from home, Rodgers’ men turned in a lacklustre display that saw them spend the majority of the first half chasing their opponents, who passed the ball slickly, though not with enough incision to regularly open their opponents up.
If the home side could take anything from the opening half, it was that they limited the damage to three efforts on goal. Only one, after just three minutes, was Craig Gordon stretched, blocking an effort from Sven Kums, who had much of the goal to aim at.
Once the early bluster of Henry Ibyekuru was seen off, the Parkhead side at least looked more robust and crucially were able to limp into the break bruised but still on level terms.
It was in those 15 minutes under the stands that Rodgers attempted to make his mark.
For a period, it seemed that his magic had worked. Olivier Ntcham came onto the field and carried the ball positively forward, initially, at least, while a change of formation to a 3-4-3 allowed Kieran Tierney to attack with the kind of purpose he was never allowed in the opening period. Mute in terms of shots on target in the first half, by the time 10 second-half minutes were up, the Hoops had Anderlecht forced into more meaning defensive action than they had in the entirety of the first.
But this was only a brief reprieve from the flat fogginess that typified the home side’s evening.
Just as Celtic appeared to have settled, the ghosts of their first-half display re-emerged as a slap-dash clearance allowed their opponents to cross into the box. Stretching in an attempt to clear the ball, Jozo Simunovic could only allow the ball to skim off the top of his head and fly into the far corner.
It was he who led the response, controlling sharply in the box but firing over following a free kick, yet the end of the match proved to be nervy, if not entirely uncomfortable for the hosts.
Anderlecht lacked the quality to truly worry Celtic, but it would not have taken a much better side to have achieved the three-goal win that would have eliminated the Scots.
Ultimately, the job of securing European football after Christmas for the first time since 2015 was achieved, though not in the style that was anticipated. The Glasgow side have stumbled into the Europa League and will have to progress the hard way, as they will not be seeded when the draw for the last 32 is made.
This was an eye-opening defeat for Rodgers, who would have felt his side were maturing nicely in terms of their continental contribution. Of course, they have not regressed to square one, but this was a bloody nose and a stern warning for the Scottish champions for when their Europa League campaign begins for real in the middle of February.
