Stephen Halliday: Celtic’s troubles at back return

Virgil van Dijk in the Karagandy penalty box - his performance at the other end left much to be desired. Picture: SNS

FOR Neil Lennon, last night’s disappointment in Astana was a deeply unwelcome step back towards square one of his European journey as Celtic manager.

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Having achieved so much progress on the continental stage for his club over the past couple of years, most notably in turning around their previously risible away record, the 2-0 defeat to an intensely motivated but unremarkable Shakhter Karagandy side was a rude shock for Lennon. It is Celtic’s first defeat in Champions League qualifying football since their 3-0 loss to Braga in 2010 in what was Lennon’s first European game at the helm.

He has grown significantly as a manager since then and learned much of what is required to compete credibly in Uefa’s blue riband tournament. And he will need to fully utilise all of that knowledge and nous if the Scottish champions are to overturn the deficit they carelessly sustained in the Kazakhstan capital.

Against the lowest-ranked team left in the Champions League, Celtic were sloppy at both ends of the pitch at crucial moments in the Astana Arena.

It was a far cry from the focus, composure and tactical discipline which has characterised much of their previous work in the tournament under Lennon.

Despite having 65 per cent of possession on an artificial surface far more conducive to passing football than the one they encountered in the previous round against Elfsborg in Sweden, Celtic were unable to convert that dominance into the away goal which would have put a very different complexion on this play-off tie.

As it stands, Shakhter will head into next Wednesday’s return leg at Celtic Park brimful of confidence that they can become the first Kazakh club to reach the group stage of the Champions League.

Captain Andrei Finonchenko’s 12th- minute opener and Sergei Khizhnichenko’s 77th minute goal, both eminently avoidable from Celtic’s perspective, have placed Shakhter in a strong but hardly impregnable position.

Celtic will now look to the positives and how to maximise them next week.

In the opening ten minutes last night, there was little hint of the problems to come. Lennon’s men started brightly, troubling Shakhter with a burst of early corner kicks from which the hosts were fortunate to emerge unscathed.

But to prove that forewarned isn’t always forearmed, Celtic fell behind from the kind of set-piece they had been made fully aware was the biggest threat in Shakhter’s arsenal.