Celtic 1-1 Club Brugge: Daizen Maeda secures Champions League draw after Cameron Carter-Vickers own goal

Match report as Celtic draw 1-1 with Club Brugge in the Champions League; Cameron Carter-Vickers' own goal gifted the Belgians the lead; Daizen Maeda curled in a stunning equaliser; Ferran Jutgla had a goal disallowed for the visitors; Celtic are 20th with three games remaining

Alison Conroy

Digital Sports Journalist @AlisonGConroy

Wednesday 27 November 2024 23:46, UK

Dazien Maeda rescued a Champions League point for Celtic after Cameron Carter-Vickers' calamitous own goal against Club Brugge.

The Hoops knew a third home win would take them to the verge of the knockout stages but it was a nightmare start as Cameron Carter-Vickers inexplicably put the ball into his own net.

Brendan Rodgers' side struggled to find the brilliance they showed in their win against RB Leipzig last time out as the Belgians dominated the first half in front of a sell-out crowd.

But they did apply some pressure after the break and Maeda curled in a wonderful strike off the post to pull them level with Ferran Jutgla's strike for Brugge then disallowed for offside following a VAR check.

A precious draw sees Celtic remain among the top 24 sides in the competition with three games left. Club Brugge are one point behind and also still in contention for the knockout stages.

Celtic keep hopes of Champions League progression alive

Despite the visitors' superiority, Schmeichel had not had a save to make before being beaten by Carter-Vickers. The Celtic goalkeeper summoned his team-mates to give them his thoughts on what was going wrong.

The home team offered more of a threat before the interval, mainly through the wing play of Kuhn, who twice almost set up Kyogo Furuhashi and then did find Reo Hatate, whose glancing header was comfortably saved.

Hatate shot wide from 22 yards after the interval but the game twice nearly drifted further away from the Scottish champions in the early stages of the second half.

Schmeichel pulled off an excellent stop from Maxim De Cuyper after the left-back broke forward and burst past Auston Trusty's attempted tackle. Andreas Skov Olsen then blazed over from eight yards after a deep cross found him unmarked.

Brendan Rodgers made a double switch as Paulo Bernardo and Alex Valle came on and the latter immediately set up the equaliser with a well-weighted pass, although Maeda effectively made the goal himself.

There was a further twist 10 minutes later when Jutgla had a goal disallowed following a VAR check after stabbing home from 10 yards after Celtic could not defend a cross. A marginal offside came to the hosts' rescue.

Bernardo made a difference to Celtic's midfield after replacing Engels and the Portugal Under-21 international came closest to winning the game for the Hoops when he shot just wide from 20 yards after good skill.

Rodgers' side kept the pressure on but there was no clear-cut opportunity in the final stages.

'Celtic showed a real strong mentality'

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers:

"Clearly we would want to have played like we did against Leipzig and take three points and enjoy the performance level, but we're playing against a good team tonight who were well-organised, good technicians.

"If you waste 45 minutes like we did in the first half, then they can punish you, which they did do.

"But I can only credit the players for the second half because we have to fight and at this level we're still one of those teams that's really pushing to try and make a mark at this level.

"To make the comeback, score the goal, play with that courage I was so pleased.

"You want to win, but I've been here enough times to have lost a game like that. But we didn't, we showed a real strong mentality and we kept pushing right to the very end and the players did well."

On Carter-Vickers' own goal Rodgers added: "He's played that pass a million times and it's gone back and then we've been able to play forward. It's just one of those unfortunate moments in the game that happen for you.

"He's a really, really tough character. He picked himself up, he was really strong and aggressive again in the game and got on with it and had a real bravery in the second half because he was the one carrying the ball forward for us to start the attack."

Wilson: Celtic still in the fight

Former Celtic defender Mark Wilson on Soccer Special:

"Slackness and slow play from Celtic for the first 45 minutes, something we've not been used to seeing.

"Brugge were pretty good and it was a calamitous own goal from Carter-Vickers to give them the lead then, in the second period, they could have added to that to make it 2-0.

"But Celtic found a way to get a bit of rhythm, a bit of flow in their game and it took a fantastic goal by Daizen Maeda.

"I'm trying to wrack my brains to think of chances Celtic created after that to work Mignolet in goal, he didn't really make a save throughout.

"They really struggled to create so probably a point is a fair result. It's not a disaster, they didn't lose the game and they're still in the fight for a play-off place."