Agency :
Valencia closed in on the last 16 of the Europa League by inflicting just Celtic’s second home defeat of the season with a 2-0 win in Glasgow on Thursday.
Twice the Celtic offside trap was broken with ease either side of half-time as Ruben Sobrino’s pass was tapped home by Denis Cheryshev before the Russian turned provider for Sobrino to net on his Valencia debut after a January move from Alaves.
Brendan Rodgers’s men now have a mountain to climb when the sides meet for the second leg of the last-32 tie in Spain on February 21 given the gulf in class on show between the Scottish champions and the side that finish fourth in La Liga last season.
“It’s a disappointing performance in the end,” said Rodgers. “When you make the number of mistakes we made with simple passes you become a wee bit safe and that was the story of our game.
“At this level you have to concentrate and you can’t put pressure on ourselves. Tonight we put pressure on ourselves.”
Only Salzburg in the group stage of the Europa League had emerged victorious from a visit to Celtic Park previously this campaign and buoyed by a run of seven straight wins since the winter break in Scotland, the home side started positively.
Valencia closed in on the last 16 of the Europa League by inflicting just Celtic’s second home defeat of the season with a 2-0 win in Glasgow on Thursday.
Twice the Celtic offside trap was broken with ease either side of half-time as Ruben Sobrino’s pass was tapped home by Denis Cheryshev before the Russian turned provider for Sobrino to net on his Valencia debut after a January move from Alaves.
Brendan Rodgers’s men now have a mountain to climb when the sides meet for the second leg of the last-32 tie in Spain on February 21 given the gulf in class on show between the Scottish champions and the side that finish fourth in La Liga last season.
“It’s a disappointing performance in the end,” said Rodgers. “When you make the number of mistakes we made with simple passes you become a wee bit safe and that was the story of our game.
“At this level you have to concentrate and you can’t put pressure on ourselves. Tonight we put pressure on ourselves.”
Only Salzburg in the group stage of the Europa League had emerged victorious from a visit to Celtic Park previously this campaign and buoyed by a run of seven straight wins since the winter break in Scotland, the home side started positively.
