Thierry Henry couldn’t believe it when Jota proceeded to celebrate his goal as Celtic were beaten 5-1 against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The 23-year-old scored a brilliant free-kick for the Bhoys, which was praised by former Manchester City defender, Micah Richards, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (02/11/22 at 10:20 pm).
But Arsenal and Barcelona legend Henry started to chuckle when he saw the Celtic star wheeling off in happiness, even though the scoreline read 5-1 and the game was already signed, sealed and delivered before Carlo Ancelotti could raise his eyebrow.
Given that Ange Postecoglou’s side only had secured two points from their group, not many were expecting them to do anything special against the champions of Europe.
If anything, the aim would have been to try and avoid a heavy defeat, but they didn’t help themselves by giving away two penalties inside 20 minutes and being 2-0 down – although, Josip Juranović didn’t help matters either by failing to convert his own spot-kick in the first half.
Nonetheless, the goals continued to flow again in the second half, including Federico Valverde perhaps scoring the pick of the goals with a brilliant first-time finish from the edge of the area.
When Jota scored his free-kick, he looked emotional, as he punched the air with delight and this is what Thierry Henry and Micah Richards made of it all.
“It was a magnificent free-kick from Jota,” said Richards. “The way he takes it. Then he goes off and celebrates after, even though they are 5-0 down.
“But let’s have a look at the wall. It’s absolutely disastrous. What are they doing?!”
Henry added: “But Jota celebrated that goal. Really?! Oooh, I mean. That’s true (scoring at the Bernabeu). But it’s 5-0.”
A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN TO FORGET
Well, at least Celtic aren’t the worst team in Champions League history, but still, it has been a campaign to forget.
This is now about coming back next season, sticking their chests out and learning from their mistakes, especially scoring that opening goal in their home games.
Celtic started a number of games pretty well at Paradise, but other than Shakhtar Donetsk, they failed to score that first goal, which if they do it next season, could prove to be the difference in them being more competitive.
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