HONEST Joe Hart was swift to hold up his hands and accept the blame for his howler that gifted RB Leipzig their second goal in Celtic’s 3-1 Champions League loss in Germany.
The score was balanced at 1-1 in the 64th minute when the experienced 75 times-capped England international No.1 inexplicably and uncharacteristically presented the ball to dangerman Dominik Szoboszial who had just had a goal ruled out moments earlier.
He slid the ball into the tracks of Andre Silva who raced through the centre of the startled Hoops rearguard to tuck the gift beyond the 35-year-old netminder.
Hart refused to hide from his blunder and admitted: “I’m at fault for the second goal, no doubt about it.
HART SICK…Celtic’s experienced No.1 Joe Hart owns up to howler.
“But that’s the way the manager wants us to play so that’s the way we play. Sometimes it’s going to hurt us, but, ultimately, most of the time, as we proved tonight we got through the press and gave ourselves a real opportunity to score goals.
“They were pressing with three and I wasn’t quite sure whether to go to the centre-half or Greg. I decided to go for Greg and I missed. That’s the simple facts, but it’s high level football and something I love playing and you make a mistake and you get punished.”
Hart, speaking to BT Sport, added: “We’re not going back down. We’re here to try and do something special and we’ll continue doing that. It was a good game. Two teams playing good football and we came unstuck more than they did. Big moments, a lot of pressure.
“We have two big games at home in a row which we believe if we play to our potential we can win and the group will look different.”
The Hoops are rock-bottom of Group F with one point from a possible nine while Real Madrid, 2-1 victors over Shakhtar Donetsk on the night, are in pole position on nine, the Ukrainians on four and the Bundesliga side on three after claiming their first win against the Parkhead side.
The teams go head to head again in the east end of Glasgow on Tuesday.
DEFEAT – AND IT’S HART-ACHE FOR HOOPS
