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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Celtic players rated after devastating Lazio defeat

Celtic were hit with a late sucker punch on matchday two of the Champions League group stage at home to Lazio.

Kyogo opened the scoring with his first goal on the big European stage for the hosts. 

But Matías Vecino levelled the scoring before the first half was out after Brendan Rodgers' side failed to deal with the danger at a corner. 

As the game was petering out for a point apiece, Pedro scored with a sumptuous header to dramatically win the tie for the Serie A side.

Here's how the Celtic players rated in the 2-1 loss.

Joe Hart 7

Did his best to prevent the equaliser from close range. Held on well to a Kamada shot from distance on 68 minutes.

Alistair Johnston 7

Played a great ball wide to initiate the move for Celtic’s opening goal. Rarely beaten on his side and his use of the ball more often than not was positive.

Nat Phillips 6

A relatively solid showing from the on-loan Liverpool centre-back. Overcooked a few passes but looked dependable enough.

Liam Scales 8

Made a couple of outstanding strong tackles to halt Anderson in opening half-hour. He & O’Riley made poor swipes at the cross for Lazio’s equaliser. That said, he was one of Celtic’s best performers.

Greg Taylor 6

Guilty of overplaying at moments, taking an extra touch when it wasn’t needed. Did well to put Anderson off from shooting early in the second half. Determined as per.

Reo Hatate 5

A below-par performance. Nothing he tried pulled off and he seemed off the pace.

Callum McGregor 6

Was effective as he usually is at breaking up play and moving the ball on to the more advanced players. Guilty of the odd loose pass which resulted in moves breaking up in the final third.

Matt O’Riley 7

Produced an outstanding assist for the opener – it was true eye-of-the-needle stuff. Lack of defensive tendencies on show for 1-1 though at the corner.

Daizen Maeda 7

Effective wing-play to cut inside from the touchline and fizz the ball into O’Riley for the first. Consistently showed his sharp turn of pace on the right wing to get away from his marker. A tad over-excited at points after the break.

Kyogo 8

He always delivers big goals. He scored with a typically cool finish, fooling the keeper by going near-post. Unbelievably, that was the first time the Japanese forward had scored in the Champions League.

Yang Hyun-jun 5

A surprise starter, he began very brightly but quickly faded out of the match. Faced audible groans on several occasions when he retreated backwards rather than attacking and eventually lost the ball or failed to pick out his man.

Subs:

Cameron Carter-Vickers (for Phillips, 61’) 3

The American made his long-awaited return. Was the unlikely villain as he gave away possession moments before Pedro’s goal. Devasting for the defender.

Luis Palma (for Yang, 61’) 5

Thought he’d scored the winner, but VAR ruled out for offside. Unlucky as he looked lively.

Paulo Bernardo (for Hatate, 71’) 3

Made his debut for the club.

Oh Hyeon-gyu (for Kyogo, 86’) 2

Final moments.

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