CRAIG GORDON has attempted to explain the defensive howler that gifted Bayern Munich their opening goal in their 2-1 win at Parkhead last night.
Dedryck Boyata had a fatal moment of hesitation as the keeper, Sven Ulreich, launched a simple straightforward ball downfield.
The Belgian allowed the ball to drift away from him and Gordon was caught in no-man’s land as he charged out in an attempt to slow the progress of Kingsley Coman who got in behind Boyata.
The Scotland international No.1 said: “I thought Dedryck was going to head it.
“The punt through came from the goalkeeper, who has played the ball fairly aimlessly up the park – which is what we’re looking for.
“It’s just one of those things. You don’t see that often here and I don’t quite know how it got all the way through, but it was a strange goal to lose. I think Dedryck thought it was going to come straight through. I just had to react, so it was kind of an all-round mistake.
“Coman is pretty quick and he got in behind Dedryck. I just tried to force him wide and take his momentum off him to allow the guys to get back in behind the ball, but he still managed to score.
“It’s something you don’t see very often, especially in games at this level, one ball up the pitch causing such difficulty – and we were just a little bit late to react.
“I had to do something off the bouncing ball, he was coming straight through, he’s quick, and he was right in the middle of the goal.
“From my point of view, I’ve forced him to come round me and let three of the guys get back goal-side of the ball to try and make a block.
“And we got unlucky because he’s threaded the ball through a forest of legs and found the net. I also felt it might have hit his hand as the ball rolled across his body. Having looked at it again, it looks as though it did touch his hand.
“The official has looked at it and thought it hit his hip, so there’s a difference of opinion there. It counted. The guy behind the goal should be looking at that.
“We’ve got goal-line technology, so he should be looking at the play, at least. It looked as though it hit his hand and they have got the advantage from that.”
Boyata looked dejected as the ball rolled over the line and Gordon admitted: “Yeah, the manager talked to him about it.
“He came in and said what he thought – and he thought we should have won the first ball. He felt my starting position was right to go out and make him make a decision to give us time to get back in.
“So, it’s just a really strange goal to lose at this level.”
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