Celtic vs Real Madrid

Shaun Maloney analyses Celtic's defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League - and finds they didn't do a lot wrong.

The 39-year-old has had opportunities to return to coaching recently in Scotland and in England but they were not right for him. The team is still very much committed to Ange’s philosophy as you can see from the team high-pressing here in the 90th minute and still having a real go. Celtic are a well-organised and creative outfit but even so, Real Madrid are capable of turning the screw when it matters the most. “They’ve tried to press but Madrid have had Kroos, Modric and Aurelien Tchouameni rotating in there at times. No wonder the fans and the manager have such a connection. As a Celtic player, he remembers the never-say-die attitude when playing in green and white. And so it turns out, as a third, this time from Hazard — who has played a big part in all three goals — wraps up a 3-0 win. He plays it into Hazard and then the level of the player comes through. I watched this particular drill numerous times which the team had worked on over and over and decided to change shape to a 4-4-1-1 a day before the game. We decided to press in a zonal structure in a way that, whatever happened, we would always have a three-vs-three situation in that wide area instead of a man less.” Saturday’s 4-0 demolition of Rangers is also fresh in the memory but a substitution after 30 minutes quickly highlights the difficulties they face against this particular opponent. For Maloney, a week of planning went into stopping the Scottish champions, who, since that day, had scored in all 19 games until the European champions came to Glasgow.