Celtic victory questioned as furious Besiktas manager makes controversial claim
Besiktas manager Vincenzo Italiano has claimed his side ‘gifted’ Celtic all three goals in Thursday night’s dramatic 3-2 Europa League defeat at Parkhead.
Martin O’Neill’s side secured their first European victory of the campaign with a thrilling comeback against the Turkish outfit, who suffered their first defeat of the league phase.
Besiktas had taken the lead before Celtic’s second-half substitutes transformed the contest, with the Hoops eventually securing victory through a late Camilo Durán winner after the visitors had equalised with five minutes remaining.
Despite the defeat, Italiano insisted his side had performed well for large spells but was furious with their defensive mistakes, apologising to supporters for surrendering three points.
Speaking after the game, Italiano said: “Unfortunately, we lost a match we shouldn’t have lost, because, in my opinion, the boys played very well.
“We’re defending too lightly, too softly, and not like at the beginning when I complimented everyone on being an airtight defence, a strong defence, an attentive defence, a defence that and never wanted to concede goals.
“We’re not the team we are at right now, and we’re throwing away important points. We’re conceding avoidable goals, we’ve practically gifted three goals, and I’m sorry about that.
“It’s our first defeat in Europe, and it could very well have been something different given the performance we put in. In Europe, we still have four games, there are 12 points available, and we must try to do everything possible to get through this round. I repeat: I’m sorry. The performance was positive, marred by three avoidable incidents.
“I’m talking about the team, because at 2-2, we conceded a goal where we all had to try to counter that build-up and that development of the opponent, and we didn’t succeed.
“Then, it’s normal that defenders are the last ones who should try to behave as they did at the beginning of the season, when we saved goals on the line, when we threw ourselves into a sliding tackle to save everything that could’ve been a goal.
“So we have to continue, from a collective and individual perspective, not to want to concede goals, which at the moment we are doing differently from the beginning of the season.”
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