CELTIC 0 AS ROMA 3
TWO games, two defeats. Wilfried Nancy must make certain he avoids an unthinkable – and unacceptable – hat-trick from hell.
An uncomfortable-looking Celtic toppled to an error-strewn defeat to AS Roma in their Europea League encounter at Parkhead just four days after surrendering three precious Premiership points to Hearts at the same venue.
Now Nancy must work overtime to restore confidence in a collection of dispirited players before Sunday’s Premier Sports League Cup Final against St Mirren at Hampden.
The Frenchman’s introduction as Hoops boss was not the one in the script as the Edinburgh outfit left with Glasgow with a 2-1 win.
And the misery continued when the Serie A cracks picked off strangely hesitant hosts to lead 3-0 at half-time in an opening 45 minutes-plus that was compounded by a penalty-kick miss from Arne Engels deep in stoppage-time when the Belgian lashed his effort against the inside of the right-hand post.
It was an act of sheer ineptitude that summed up the performance of the team. The Italians won the battle with far too many home players losing out in the 50-50 duels.
STARING INTO THE FACE OF DEFEAT…new boss Wilfried Nancy looks stunned as AS Roma taken an early lead at Parkhead.
On top of that was a procession of misplaced passes that brought groans from the Hoops fans – and offered glee to the travelling support.
Surprisingly, Nancy went with the same line-up that had failed against the Tynecastle side and they once again displayed the flaws that were seized upon by Derek McInnes’ players.
Celtic didn’t help themselves when Liam Scales fired a header into his own net to give the Italians the lead in the sixth minute and the defender was caught on his heels twice when his Republic of Ireland team-mate Evan Ferguson, on loan from Brighton, netted a double before the interval.
It was a night to forget for Scales who has been one of the team’s most consistent performers this term.
But his timing was out as he challenged Gianluca Mancini for a right-wing corner-kick and only managed to thump an unstoppable six-yard header past a stunned Kasper Schmeichel to gift the grateful opponents an early advantage.
There was a was another warning for Celtic when Ferguson was given time to hit a shot off the outside o Schmeichel’s left-hand post.
But he had better luck in the 36th minute when Scales was slow to read the danger signals and the striker got in front of him to turn in a right-wing cross from Zeki Celik.
BLUNDER BHOY…Liam Scales rises to divert a header into his own net to gift AS Roma a sixth-minute lead in an error-strewn game at Parkhead.
The Hoops defender was having a torrid time and he was caught out again when Ferguson swivelled to thrash a low angled drive past Schmeichel for the third.
Engels then blew his penalty-kick and the whistle to bring a startlingly frustrating first-half to a halt was met with a chorus of boos and derision from the home support.
Nancy made a triple substitution at the start of the second-half with Colby Donovan, Paulo Bernardo and Kelechi Iheanacho replacing Kieran Tierney, Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda.
The Nigerian striker, returning from injury that had kept him out of the previous 10 games, came so close to pulling one back with a whizzbang drive that sizzled just wide of the target in the 53rd minute.
Nancy shuffled the pack again when he sent on Anthony Ralston for Yang Hyun-jun in the 62nd minute.
Iheanacho thought he had pulled one back in the 64th minute, but his close-range drive after a right-wing cross from Engels was ruled offside after a VAR inspection.
The Italians suffered a similar fate when Leon Bailey beat Callum McGregor twice before whipping in a curling left-foot effort in the 74th minute. However, the on-loan Aston Villa winger had strayed just offside in the build-up.
Three minutes later, Michel-Ange Balikwisha came on for Hatate, but by then the stadium was emptying and there was no way back for the team.
It’s back to the drawing board for Nancy before he faces more scrutiny in the silverware showpiece at the national stadium on Sunday.
The new boss will have to come up with some answers before it is far too late.
TEAM: Schmeichel; Trusty, Scales, Tierney (sub: Donovan 46); Nygren (sub: Bernardo 46), Engels, McGregor, Hatate (sub: Balikwisha 77); Yang (sub: Ralston 62), Maeda (sub: Iheanacho 46) and Tounekti.
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