Besiktas star claims his side dominated Celtic despite dramatic Europa League defeat
Besiktas midfielder Junior Olaitan believes his side only have themselves to blame for their 3-2 Europa League defeat to Celtic, insisting the Turkish outfit dominated proceedings before costly mistakes allowed the Hoops back into the contest.
Martin O’Neill’s side secured their first victory of the Europa League campaign on Thursday night, producing a dramatic comeback at Celtic Park after falling behind in the first half.
Benin international Olaitan had opened the scoring for the visitors, but Celtic responded to overturn the deficit and claim a much-needed three points.
Despite the result, Olaitan insists Besiktas were the better side for large spells and expressed his frustration at the errors that ultimately proved decisive.
He said: “It was a bad defeat because we dominated the game until we made passing errors and gave the ball away to our opponents. We started the game well and scored, but after that we lost our rhythm.
“Celtic took advantage of this and took their chances. It’s a pity because we were playing well. It;s important we recover from this painful defeat. I am sorry for our supporters that we lost this and it’s clear we need to work harder for the full 90 minutes, rather than just parts of the match.”
