Celtic suffered a disappointing night in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier with AEK Athens, drawing 1-1 at home, and Chris Sutton said they faced a “big challenge” to keep their European dreams alive.
They will have to score in Greece now next week to keep their hopes of qualifying for the group stage intact, and that won’t be easy.
This verdict was echoed by Chris Sutton on Twitter immediately after the final whistle.
He said that it would be a “big challenge” to qualify now, but “not impossible” for Brendan Rodgers’ men.
He praised AEK for being well organised but bemoaned another “soft goal in Europe”.
1-1..Big challenge to qualify now for Celtic but not impossible… AEK well organised…another soft goal in Europe… the focus may now be on not getting deals done..
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) August 8, 2018
OPINION
This was always going to be a tough two-legged tie but it was looking good when Callum McGregor gave Celtic the lead in the 17th minute. Unfortunately for Celtic, their defence let them down just before half-time, letting Viktor Klonaridis in for an equaliser. And, despite AEK going down to 10 men in the second half, after Konstantinis Galanopoulos picked up two quickfire yellow cards, Celtic couldn’t find the winner. That gives AEK the advantage going into the second leg, but it’s effectively half-time in the tie and Celtic still have a chance of getting through. Sutton is right though, it’s going to be hard. AEK were well drilled tonight and it will be even harder for Celtic to break them down at home. However, they know what they have to do and they won’t be able to sit back and try to defend a slim lead. They’ll have to attack and find the goal, and they’ll have to play better than they did tonight, or Celtic’s lucrative Champions League dreams could be over for the year.