Celtic midfielder Nir Bitton was left embarrassed by his opposite number during their defeat in the Europa Conference League.
Celtic were dumped out of Europe last night as a 2-0 defeat in Norway meant that they were on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline across the two legs.
It was always going to be hard for Celtic to come back from the deficit they left for themselves in the first leg, but it wasn’t helped by some of the performances that were put in by some of Ange Postecoglou’s men on the pitch.
One such player was Bitton, who was captain on the night, but didn’t exactly give the best account for himself.
So how did this in-game battle pan out?
Nir Bitton
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The easiest way to describe the 30-year-old Bitton’s performance was that he was very good at giving the ball away and terrible when trying to get the ball back.
As per stats via SofaScore, he gave the ball away 17 times, was dribbled past twice, failed to win two of his ground duels, and failed to block a single shot on target from the opposition. He managed to complete 81% of his passes, but didn’t have a single key pass in amongst that and failed to get off a single shot.
It was not exactly a great showing from Bitton, but even worse considering he was captain and should have been setting an example. This also resulted in him being given just a 5/10 match rating from The Scotsman.
Elias Hagen
Compare that to Bitton’s opposite number in midfield, where 22-year-old Norwegian Elias Hagen was far more effective in the middle of the park for Bodo/Glimt.
As per SofaScore, he only lost possession 11 times, won all of his ground duels, completed 85% of his passes – which included one key pass – and on top of that, he had an impressive role in the hosts’ opener, picking the ball up in his own half and running at the Celtic goal before laying off to Ola Solbakken to fire into the far corner.
It’s also worth noting that he did this all with fewer touches on the ball than Bitton, with 73 compared to the Israeli’s 80.
TIF Verdict…
Given the circumstances and the importance of the game, it was most certainly a night to forget for Bitton and one that he’ll want to put behind him.
There is still some way to go between now and the end of the season, and Celtic are right in the middle of a tight title race with Old Firm rivals Rangers, and if there are any more performances from Bitton like the one he put in last night, he could well put those chances of winning the title in danger.
So let’s just hope that this performance doesn’t begin to influence his form for the rest of the campaign.
In other news: ‘Moaning about everything’ – Journalist blasts Celtic who are ‘pretty quiet now’