Borussia Mönchengladbach arrived in Glasgow depleted but left with three points. Celtic’s hopes of even a Europa League place beyond Christmas were thereby dealt a severe blow, the most jarring thing for Brendan Rodgers perhaps the vast gulf between the supposedly disjointed Bundesliga team and their hitherto buoyant hosts.
Curiously, in a game where one team’s overall dominance was so pronounced, there was a fall guy. Kolo Touré was horribly culpable for both of Mönchengladbach’s goals, with Rodgers forced to defend the former Liverpool player thereafter. “Nobody will be more disappointed than Kolo,” the Celtic manager said. “Tonight will hurt him. But he is a warrior, he is mentally tough and he will recover.”
Touré himself remarked that, despite being 35, he had made the errors of a 16-year-old. “In this kind of competition you can’t afford to make those kind of mistakes,” he admitted.
Celtic lacked creativity, purpose and, ultimately, were error-strewn in defence. How Mönchengladbach gleefully took advantage, in succeeding where Manchester City could not. Rodgers can only hope for a brisk turnaround by the time this pair meet in Germany on November 1, otherwise bottom place in Group C almost inevitably awaits.
“The better team won, we have no complaints,” Rodgers said. “The disappointing thing is that we gifted them two goals. But we are building something here; sometimes we will meet teams who are better than us.”
Rodgers was otherwise left to reflect on exactly what inroads Celtic can legitimately make in this competition without spending vast sums. “There are still elements we need to compete consistently at this level,” he said.
The visitors, backed by a wonderfully boisterous support, opened by far the brighter team. That match flow was never to alter. The pick of three attacks within the first five minutes saw André Hahn sent marauding through on goal, only a fine Toure challenge denying the striker.
Mönchengladbach’s promise was all the more worthy of credit given the makeshift nature of their team and stuttering domestic form. Craig Gordon was soon required to halt the Germans, as he did with a fine low stop to deny Ibrahima Traoré and with acrobatics to bat away a Jonas Hofmann attempt.
With 45 minutes played, Celtic were toiling to impose themselves. Solace could be taken only from the fact Mönchengladbach had not endorsed their superiority with a goal. This did a disservice to André Schubert’s team, who were slick and brilliantly accurate with passes when in Celtic territory. The half-time scoreline could have been even less reflective of play had Scott Sinclair not spurned a glorious chance two minutes before the break. Tom Rogic created the opportunity with a terrific, angled pass.
The interval did not stem Mönchengladbach’s confidence. Tobias Strobl curled narrowly wide of Gordon’s left hand post, eight minutes after the restart.
Home resistance was not long in being breached. Touré, when trying to shepherd the ball out of play, had his pocket picked by Hahn. From the subsequent cut‑back, Lars Stindl lashed the ball through Gordon’s legs and into the net. For all Toure was casual, nobody could dispute Mönchengladbach’s value for their lead. It was almost doubled instantly, Erik Sviatchenko this time saving Celtic as Hahn prepared to shoot for goal.
Touré was again culpable in easily conceding possession, this time to the impressive Hahn, as the German club added merited gloss. The 26-year-old had two defenders in pursuit but could not be caught before firing high past Gordon, via the underside of the crossbar.
Mönchengladbach had been strong enough without Celtic playing such a key part in their own downfall. The German club saw out the closing stages with blissful ease.
