MAIK NAWROCKI was exposed when Aberdeen broke quickly for Bojan Miovski to turn the Celtic defender inside out before arcing a left-foot effort beyond Joe Hart on Saturday.
The German-born former Polish Under-21 centre-back failed in the one v one confrontation as the hosts took the lead five minutes after the interval with their first shot on target.
Nawrocki, who was taking the place of the crocked Cameron Carter-Vickers in the middle of the champions’ rearguard, looked slow and cumbersome as the North Macedonia international striker was allowed to race onto a Dante Polvaro pass to glide towards his target with the £4.3million defender backing off.
TOO LATE…Maik Nawrocki is caught out as Bojan Miovski fires Aberdeen’s shock opener past the helpless Joe Hart at Pittodrie on Saturday.
Liam Scales was caught upfield in the original move that saw a sloppy ball from Alexandro Bernabei to Paulo Bernardo snapped upon by Connor Barron. Two passes later and the alarm bells were ringing in the Celtic half and the outcome was Hart fishing the ball out of his net following an excellent effort from the Dons hitman.
Nawrocki’s torment was cut short in the 77th minute when Brendan Rodgers took him off to send on Stephen Welsh.
The 6ft-plus stopper’s day wasn’t helpled by a nonsensical first-half booking for a challenge on Killian Phillips from referee Steven McLean when it was clear the centre-back was attempting to pull out of a 50-50 tackle.
Pittodrie is quickly becoming a ground that is not presenting the former Legia Warsaw player with too many happy memories.
Back in August, following the visitors’ 3-1 victory, CQN highlighted a fatal flaw in Nawrocki’s defensive make-up.
BOOKED…Maik Nawrocki is about to pick up a ludicrous yellow card after this clash with Dons’ Killian Phillips.
To be fair, it was only the summer recruit’s first competitive 90 minutes for the team, but he was punished when he switched off for a crucial moment in the 25th minute and that was enough for the hosts to equalise Liel Abada’s opener.
Portuguese raider Duk scampered clear of Carter-Vickers on the left before whipping over an inviting cross and that man Miovski had the freedom of the city to stroke home from smack in the middle of the goal.
Nawrocki was caught on his heels as his immediate opponent flashed the ball past Hart.
Thankfully, Kyogo Furuhashi had a quickfire reply to restore the Hoops’ lead and Matt O’Riley sealed the points with the third.
Nicolas Kuhn provided a safety net with an equaliser at the weekend, but there was to be no winner on this occasion.
Nawrocki is finding there is no hiding place as a Celtic player.
Rodgers will now have to decide between the club’s most expensive recruit in this season’s transfer deals or Welsh to face Hibs at Easter Road on Wednesday.
