The major winners and losers as Celtic reach Europa League last-32 despite defeat

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Celtic advanced to the knockout stages of the Europa League despite a 2-1 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg.

Salzburg dominated the match but it took them until midway through the second-half to make their play count as Munas Dabbur’s header beat Craig Gordon.

The Austrian side doubled their lead with 15 minutes to go as Stefan Lainer capitalised on a rare lapse in concentration from Gordon.

Olivier Ntcham scored a late consolation having missed a penalty, but the Celtic fans still had reason to celebrate with RB Leipzig drawing with Rosenborg, sending the Scottish side through.

Here are the winners and losers on a crazy night in Glasgow.

Winner: Munas Dabbur

Munas Dabbur has been on fire for Salzburg this season and will look back at his two Europa League games against Celtic with particular fondness.

The Israeli forward (six) has scored more goals than any other player in the Europa League group stage this season, three of which have come against Celtic.

It came in the simplest of ways as Stefan Lainer’s cross found Dabbur in between two defenders, with the forward’s header getting past Gordon who was beginning to look unbeatable in the Celtic goal.

But Dabbur’s form has not just been restricted to the Europa League, with the Israeli already netting 16 goals in 25 games across all competitions.

Loser: Scott Sinclair

Though Celtic will be happy for the draw, they were completely overrun in the first half and their lack of chance creation may bring some worry for future games in the Europa League.

One of the bigger culprits in the first half was Scott Sinclair, who has so often been the gamechanger for Celtic in the past. But the former Swansea City winger did not do enough to hurt the Salzburg defence, failing to create a single chance before the break.

Sinclair did have Celtic’s only shot on goal before the break but it sailed well wide with the winger also struggling to link up with his team-mates.

And Brendan Rodgers made it evident he had noticed Sinclair’s poor showing, substituting the winger at half-time bringing Scott Brown on.

Winner: Scottish football

Though Celtic fans would have undoubtedly been happy as kick-off approached after hearing rivals Rangers had been knocked out of the Europa League following their 1-0 defeat to Rapid Vienna, the Scottish FA would have been worrying.

Scotland are currently ranked 20 in their Uefa coefficient, starting the 2018/19 campaign with four teams involved in European competition. However, Aberdeen fell in the Europa League second qualifying round, Hibernian exited a stage later before Rangers joined the trio out of Europe.

So it fell to Celtic, who started the season in the Champions League qualifying rounds, to keep Scotland’s hope limiting the dive of their Uefa coefficient in comparison to those around them.

And Scotland will have representation in the last-32 of the Europa League, thanks to RB Leipzig’s slip up in Germany.

Loser: RB Leipzig

After losing their last two Europa League matches, against the sides battling it out at Celtic Park, RB Leipzig were reliant on their sister club Salzburg to do them a favour in the final round of group stage matches.

Leipzig needed Salzburg to beat Celtic as well as winning their own game against the pointless Rosenborg to keep their European journey alive, advancing on a better head-to-head record with the Scottish side.

But, unfortunately for the Germans, they were held by Rosenborg in Leipzig sending them out of the Europa League with Celtic going through despite their final game defeat.

Winner: Marco Rose

What a team Red Bull Salzburg are turning into.

Last season’s Europa League semi-finalists will surely fancy their chances of reaching that stage once more after finishing the group stage with a perfect record.

Rose’s time with Salzburg has been an impressive one, starting his managerial reign at youth level, leading the club to a Uefa Youth League title in 2017, beating Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona en route to the final.

And, after stepping up to the senior role last season, Rose has been phenomenal with Salzburg,

Loser: Ryan Christie

Ryan Christie has had a really good season for Celtic after playing his way into Brendan Rodgers’ plans at the Scottish champions.

The 23-year-old had started the past 11 games in all competitions, playing in various roles across the midfield, scoring six goals in that time.

But his progress has now been halted after Christie was taken off on a stretcher with what looked to be a bad injury. It came as a result of good defensive play from Christie as he slid in to stop Takumi Minamino as the forward shaped up to shoot. But the Scotland international immediately started shouting in agony, unable to carry on or walk off the pitch.

No further details have been given yet over the injury, but it looked fairly serious and will be a big blow for both Christie and Celtic with such a busy fixture schedule ahead including another Old Firm Derby at the end of the month.

The post The major winners and losers as Celtic reach Europa League last-32 despite defeat appeared first on Squawka News.



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