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Celtic received a red card for Daizen Maeda while facing a crushing 6-0 loss against Atletico Madrid, causing them to fall behind in their Champions League group.
During the first half at the Estadio Metropolitano, Celtic was already behind due to Antoine Griezmann’s goal, which was deflected. Maeda received a yellow card that was later changed to a red after a VAR review.
Alvaro Morata and Griezmann each scored twice, while Samuel Lino and Saul Niguez also found the back of the net for Atletico. They took full advantage of their extra player, scoring a series of impressive goals in the second half.
Maeda caused harm by leaving his foot exposed during a 50-50 challenge with Mario Hermoso. As a result, Hermoso fell to the ground and was hit on the shin by Maeda’s follow-through.
When the incident occurred, Atletico manager Diego Simeone and several of his support staff quickly left their seats on the sidelines, causing Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers to express his frustration when the referee was summoned to review the play.
Rodgers received a booking for expressing disagreement, while Simeone intervened to prevent one of his teammates from confronting the Celtic manager.
Celtic currently trails third-ranked Feyenoord by five points. In order to continue their European journey past the holiday season, they must win against Lazio and Feyenoord in their remaining two matches and hope for help from Atletico.
Celtic had a rough evening, as evidenced by Maeda’s red card.
They will travel to Rome for the November 28 game with Lazio without Maeda and fellow winger Luis Palma, who picked up his third yellow card of the campaign when he was booked for dissent.
Rodgers picked the same team that played the bulk of the 2-2 draw with Atletico two weeks ago. That meant Paulo Bernardo came in for David Turnbull, who had scored in each of Celtic’s last two league games.
Griezmann began the match in the midfield and scored the first goal in the sixth minute, taking advantage of Celtic’s mistakes.
Joe Hart made a weak punch to clear the ball after a corner kick, despite not being under any pressure. Callum McGregor then headed a poorly executed clearance straight to Griezmann.
The individual from France took a shot from a distance of 20 yards. It deflected off Cameron Carter-Vickers and went past Hart, landing in the bottom corner.
Palma made a crucial save, which ended up being the only attempt on goal for Celtic as they attempted to retaliate. Soon after, McGregor came to the rescue by blocking a shot from Rodrigo Riquelme during a counter-attack.
Afterwards, a red card was given and despite Atletico’s goalkeeper Jan Oblak making a great save from Morata’s deflected shot, the remainder of the match was mainly focused on Celtic’s defensive efforts.
Griezmann and Nahuel Molina both had chances to score before Griezmann’s diagonal pass caught Celtic off guard just before halftime. Gimenez’s header found Morata who was able to slide in and score from close range.
The Celtic team has been left behind in their group in the Champions League.
The attack persisted, even prior to the break, as Hart blocked a shot from Angel Correa.
At halftime, Rodgers substituted Palma with Oh Hyeon-gyu and continued with his 4-3-2 formation for the rest of the game.
Griezmann consistently posed a threat and Gimenez nearly scored with a header that hit the crossbar. Then, in the 60th minute, Griezmann executed a scissor kick and scored after receiving a header from Alistair Johnston.
Lino, the substitute, entered Johnston’s field and scored a magnificent fourth goal six minutes afterwards.
Correa struck the post, and then Morata made contact with the ball on the edge of the box and blasted a shot into the top of the net in the 76th minute.
In the 84th minute, Niguez scored a goal from close range, resulting in Celtic’s loss. They had a midfield consisting of Turnbull, Odin Thiago Holm, and Tomoki Iwata during the game.
Atletico was unable to replicate the 7-0 win that Rodgers experienced seven years ago in Spain, which remains their most significant loss in Europe, despite the added pressure.
Source: independent.co.uk
