Chris Sutton reveals Celtic Champions League mistake

Celtic suffered their heaviest home European defeat on Tuesday night as the money-rich Paris Saint-Germain side ran riot at Celtic Park.

It was always going to be a tough night for Celtic, up against the world’s most expensive player – the new £200m signing Neymar – as well as Kylian Mbappe.

And despite an electric atmosphere at Celtic Park, Brendan Rodgers men just couldn’t get a foothold in the game.

Neymar started off the rout in the 19th minute, before Mbappe (34), Edinson Cavani (40, 85) and a Mikael Lustig own goal (83) finished off a miserable night for the Bhoys.

It means that Celtic, who haven’t won a CL group game since October 2013, have conceded in each of their past 20 Champions League games – at a total cost of 48 goals.

And pundit Chris Sutton believes that Rodgers made a mistake not bringing in a new centre-half in the summer transfer window.

On BT Sport’s live coverage of the game he said, “You can’t get away from the fact that was embarrassing from Celtic tonight.

“Brendan Rodgers had talked about being positive and getting close to the PSG players, but they didn’t in the first half.

“In every department, PSG were much better.”

Afterwards, on his official Twitter page he said that Celtic had the Champions League money in their kitty and should have made use of it to bolster their defence ahead of this season’s campaign.

Don't misquote me…. CL money in the kitty and not bringing a centre half in was a mistake… https://t.co/uUSQMaEWuw

— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) September 12, 2017

Former Celtic striker Sutton couldn’t resist yet another dig at Rangers, though, after a fan had said Celtic’s performance was hilarious.

You may find it funny but I'd say in fairness getting beaten by Luxembourgs 4th best team was far more embarrassing…. https://t.co/qFg1hNWvXv

— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) September 12, 2017

Celtic’s next Champions League game is arguably their most important, away at Anderlecht on Wednesday, September 27.

If they are going to harbour any ambitions of playing European football after Christmas, they will need to get something out of the game.

OPINION

Celtic should have brought another centre-back in over the summer. With Erik Sviatchenko and Dedryck Boyata both out with injuries it has left Brendan Rodgers seriously short of options at the back. Mikael Lustig and Jozo Simunovic played the central roles last night, with 18-year-old Tony Ralston on the right and Kieran Tierney on the left. Ralston wasn’t overawed by the occasion but he’s not a world-class defender yet. However, would another centre-back have made any difference last night? It might have avoided Lustig’s own goal but PSG would still have run rampant. They are one of the best teams in Europe and, with all the will in the world, Celtic just aren’t on their level. All Celtic could have hoped was that the atmosphere at Celtic Park played as a leveller, but it seemed like the PSG players were playing with earplugs. They were fast, intelligent and ruthless and they’ll steamroller better teams than Celtic. With only one match played, Rodgers must already be hoping for Europe League action.