This turned out to be a pretty unhappy week for those former Tottenham Hotspur players in Champions League action.
Paulo Gazzaniga, formerly the back-up to Hugo Lloris in North London, ensured that all of Girona’s heroic defending counted for nothing in the end as he spilled Nuno Mendes’ deflected shot through his own legs during the 90th minute.
An unwitting, unwelcome Massimo Taibi tribute act.
Kevin Wimmer, meanwhile, was part of the Slovan Bratislava backline ripped to pieces by Celtic’s green-and-white swarm.
There were five different names on the scoresheet as Celtic racked up their biggest ever Champions League group-stage win. Kyogo Furuhashi bundled one home in front of the Manchester City scouts, HITC understands.
Record signing Arne Engels opened his account from the penalty spot, while Daizen Maeda was at his rambunctious best on the left.
Though the goal of the game came not from a Celtic player but from a Slovan Bratislava one.
Ex-Tottenham man Kevin Wimmer returns to Champions League
Kevin Wimmer did not score a single goal during his time in English football with Tottenham Hotspur and then Stoke City.
50 appearances, and not even a sniff of net.
In fact, this was only Wimmer’s 11th in 340 games for club and country. So, if there was a poll asking which player would fire a trivela shot into the top corner in Champions League matchday one, only a certifiable maniac would pick the 31-year-old Austrian defender ahead of Kevin de Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe or Lamine Yamal.
But there he was, latching onto a poor Greg Taylor clearance and picking out the postage stamp of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal with a quite sumptous, outside-of-the-boot finish. As out-of-character moments go, this was akin to Mary Berry slamming a Rustler’s burger into a microwave.
“It is an absolutely magnificent finish,” said the awe-struck former Celtic boss Neil Lennon in his co-commentary role for TNT Sports (18 September, 8pm).
“Greg Taylor gets a miscue, but what about that for a finish! Outside of the left foot, into the top corner. That is world-class from Wimmer.
“What a magnificent goal that is unbelievable skill. The tariff on that is so high. Its a goal from the Gods really.”
The proverbial football Gods would not be smiling down on Slovan for the rest of a punishing evening in Glasgow, however. Wimmer’s extraordinary shot was the only bright spark in an otherwise dark affair for the Slovakian visitors, torn limb from limb by Celtic’s perpetual movement machine and their fearsome high press.
Celtic cruise past Slovan Bratislava at Parkhead
“Of course, I congratulate Celtic on a well-deserved victory, even if it was a cruel one for us,” sighs Vladimir Weiss Sr, the Slovan Bratislava head coach speaking to the club’s official YouTube channel.
“You have to appreciate the quality of the opponent, the excellent players and the excellent coach in (Brendan) Rodgers. In the three and a half years with Slovan, it was definitely the most difficult match in terms of intensity.
“It was very instructive for us. We were ready for everything, but that quality showed.”
Wimmer, at least, can console himself with a moment of genius that would not have looked out of place at the Etihad, the Santiago Bernabeu or the Parc des Princes.
Signed for £4.3 million from Koln in 2015 and then sold on to Stoke for an eye-watering £18 million two years later, that switch to Slovakia has allowed Wimmer to grace the Champions League stage for the first time in eight years.
His only other appearance came back in 2016, when a Mauricio Pochettino’s team featuring Danny Rose, Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen lost 2-1 to Monaco in the Principality.
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