There are not many players who get a standing ovation from Celtic Park after inflicting so much suffering. But, then again, there are not many players like Luka Modric.
Hoops fans know when they’ve been treated to something special and they responded the other night by elevating the little Croatian magician into rare company. There’s only a select few rival players who have been saluted by the Celtic faithful but perhaps Real Madrid 's Modric is the least surprising.
Alfredo De Stefano loved his reception in these parts in 1962 he invited Celts over for his testimonial five years late. Barcelona legend Andreas Iniesta got the claps from the home crowd as did AC Milan’s Kaka a few years earlier. Back in 1995 a Youri Djorkaeff-inspired PSG – before the Qatari millions were ploughed in – were applauded off the pitch after a 3-0 win. It was likewise the other night when Modric departed the scene after his masterclass against Ange Postecoglou's men and it was hardly a shock.
Parkhead loves a pint sized playmaker. "Special atmosphere. Thank you Celtic Park," Modric Tweeted afterwards. Hoops fans were grudgingly grateful too as they'd watched one of the best.
Modric might have been reared in Zadar in the north of Croatia but he has the appearance of a lad who honed his skills in Springburn in the sixties. Half the height of Joe Hart, he looks like he needs a safety pin to hold up his shorts and his left foot is only much use for standing on.
Aye, but what about that right peg? The blooming thing could conduct an orchestra while breaking in to a bank. No wonder Reo Hatate admitted he was left almost speechless by the wee man’s skills.
The trick is now to learn from the experience of facing the little sorcerer up close. Hatate said: “I cannot express with my words what that experience was like.
“I tried a lot of things, and showed a little of what I can do, and I learned a lot of things from playing against players like that. I have to take as much out of this experience as I can and use that to improve as a player.”
Hatate didn’t do too badly himself though. The Japan star was outstanding in the first half on Tuesday, along with the rest of his teammates.
At one point he produced a pass that Modric the master would have been proud of himself when he sublimely swivelled to volley an arching cross field ball 50 yards right on to the button. There were plenty of other moments as well as Hatate and Matt O’Riley were the twin turbines feeling the front line while captain Callum McGregor looked such Champions League class he could have been wearing old Zadok’s cassocks.
It might have finished up a rather painful lesson from a side who are used to dish out them out to Europe’s elite sides, but Hatate admitted he was having a ball – at least for a while. He said: “Well, first of all I enjoyed it a lot.
“I felt excitement of course and I felt nervous, there were a lot of feelings at the start of the game. But I enjoyed the match a lot, and I feel like I am improving as a player.”
The Champions League dream very much remains alive after match day one. If anything the belief has been heightened as Shakhtar Donetsk and RB Leipzig are class, but they are not Real class. Hatate said: “Well, we have to accept the result and analyse what we can do to improve.
“But we have a lot of games still to play in this group, and now we have to recover, refresh and prepare for the game against Livingston on Saturday. It all depends on us. We just have to prove to everyone and show that we are a good team, and that we can do it.”
Celtic can analyse where they went right and wrong but sometimes it might just be a case of holding the hands up. Real Madrid have done what they did the other night to other teams plenty of times.
Just ask Liverpool, who thought they were in a game in last season’s Champions League Final until the Spanish powerhouse turned on the talent tap. There will be some old footballing grump who might suggest Celtic should have approached the other night differently.
That taking on Real Madrid head on was a major gamble. It might have been, but Celtic could easily halve strung five across the back and sat deep, and the outcome would probably have been the same.
Instead, Ange Postecoglou stuck to his guns and had one of those gilt-edged chances at 0-0 hit the net, it would have been interesting to see the response. Real’s counter attacking style is the best in the business but going behind would have left some space for Celtic to hit.
Ifs, buts, and maybes. There’s no doubt about what Celtic will do in the rest of the games though.
Hatate said: “We did manage to play our football, we wanted to play our own style, but in the end we couldn’t do that for the whole 90 minutes. This is what we now need to work on.”
It’s not going to be dull, that’s for sure. Real Madrid brought with them a huge television audience across the continent and beyond and social media was ablaze with praise for the Parkhead atmosphere.
Hatate felt it too and he’s determined the rest of the campaign will provide something to sing about. He said: “I really appreciate all of the supporters, because they received us very well on Tuesday night, and even after the game too. We didn’t manage to get the result we wanted to give them, but we will work harder than ever to give something back to our supporters.”
