Celtic failed to build on a dominating start to their Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk as they were held to a 1-1 draw in Poland.
Reo Hatate’s run beyond home defense has led to Celtic taking an early lead but Mykhaylo Mudryk equalized against the run of play in the 29th minute. Off the pitch, anti-monarchy banners and chants from roving Celtic fans led to a live apology from BT Sport.
At the start of the game, a Celtic-ended banner was unfurled that read “Fuck the Crown” while another read “Sorry for your loss Michael Fagan”, a reference to the intruder who broke into the room from Queen’s Buckingham Palace in 1982.
Fans away also chanted “If you hate the royal family, clap your hands” during the match in Warsaw. There was no moment of silence for the Queen after talks between the two clubs and UEFA, but both groups of players wore black armbands.
On the pitch, Celtic got off to a good start as Matt O’Riley played Kyogo Furuhashi in the opening minute, but Shakhtar keeper Anatoliy Trubin put his foot on the striker’s shot to deflect it. Greg Taylor’s driven cross was deflected past the Japanese striker and O’Riley saved an effort before Celtic took the lead in the 10th minute.
Josip Juranovic’s diagonal ball found Sead Haksabanovic, who was making his first start for the club. The winger powered Hatate’s forward run and the midfielder’s shot deflected Artem Bondarenko and entered. Furuhashi could have knocked it home but opted to leave it only for it to be credited as an own goal.
Celtic continued to cause many problems for Shakhtar with their passing and movement, but the Ukrainian side equalized out of the blue. An inside pass from former Legia right-back Juranovic gave left winger Mudryk a clear run on goal and he fired high into the net.
The goal gave Donetsk a major boost and former Celtic winger Marian Shved quickly put the ball in the net. Shved, who made just three appearances for the Hoops, was denied his dream goal by an offside flag against provider Mudryk. Joe Hart then parried Shved’s curling effort before Celtic had the chance to regroup at half-time.
The visitors again started well and Jota’s curling effort was knocked down seconds after the restart, but Shakhtar staved off the danger. The Portuguese winger twice came close to scoring memorable goals but blocked shots at the end of impressive labyrinthine runs. O’Riley threatened several times before his replacement, David Turnbull, shot from within 25 yards.
Daizen Maeda saw an acrobatic effort deflected and another substitute, Giakoumakis, missed Celtic’s best chance for a winner five minutes from time. Taylor’s pass picked out the normally accurate unmarked Greek striker, but he fired his shot left-footed from 14 yards out.
Maeda also had a good chance late in the game, but the Japanese striker fired wide as he slid to meet Juranovic’s cross. Giakoumakis then beat the goalkeeper with a cross but his header didn’t have enough power to escape a retreating Shakhtar defender, who kept him from crossing the line.
Having also squandered chances in their first loss to Real Madrid, Celtic now face another away trip, this time to RB Leipzig. The point continued Shakhtar’s positive start to Group F following their shock victory over Leipzig last week.
The Ukrainian side, which have been moved from their home stadium since 2014, drew nearly 30,000 spectators to the Legia Warsaw stadium, but the noise – and controversy – came from away fans.
Comments are closed.