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It’s been nearly 14 years since Kaka topped Neil Lennon as he headed to an overtime win at the San Siro to cut Celtic’s Champions League participation in the knockout stage.
Those were heady days when mixing him with the European elite seemed like a seasonal formality. Lennon can now laugh at the brilliance of Kaka, at which point the Celtic midfielder had run out of strength.
Lennon, the coach, returned to face Milan when he presented himself in a totally different situation. A League Cup loss to Ross County intensified already fierce criticism of the Northern Irishman, whose Celtic team had been knocked out of the Europa League long before another tournament in Italy. As Lennon’s team scrambled to a two-goal lead, the notion of an unlikely save was alive. The players were arguing why their coach’s career wasn’t necessarily running.
Milan, minus Zlatan Ibrahimovic, gave Celtic a two-goal start, but they were still quite comfortable victorious. Celtic’s error-prone defense has been violated 17 times in five group games. Milan has no such concerns; they have now qualified for the knockout phase.
In 14 minutes, Celtic had apparently ruled out any feeling of a comfortable evening for the Serie A leaders. Tom Rogic took advantage of Rade Krunic’s inability to control a pass from Gianluigi Donnarumma before launching a low shot past the highly skilled keeper. of Milan. When Rogic curled up wide moments later, the home side’s slowness was evident.
Callum McGregor should have doubled Celtic’s lead from eight yards, with Donnarumma in place able to ward off the midfielder’s docile shot. Odsonne Édouard soon avoided McGregor’s blush with a ruined finish from Ryan Christie’s pass. Celtic, who entered this match amid a streak of just two wins in 10 games, had a right to be surprised by being two goals ahead.
The scale of Celtic’s recent defensive woes has been such that conceding at least one goal at the San Siro was inevitable. Still, Lennon has cause for immense frustration at the circumstances in which Milan returned to the game. Christie’s reckless foul on Ante Rebic gave Hakan Calhanoglu a central free kick opportunity from 20 yards. When Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas took a step to the right, Calhanoglu launched his shot in the opposite direction and into the net.
Milan’s next attack restored parity. This was to prove another defensive disaster as Jens Petter Hauge’s cut was not handled by a handful of visiting players. Samu Castillejo swooped in to deliver a high shot that left Barkas defenseless. Celtic spent the last stages of the first half under pressure, but managed to avoid conceding a third goal.
It only took four minutes of second period to arrive. Hauge zigzagged his way into the field from the left flank, with Celtic’s defenders not energetic in stopping the Norwegian. Her low curly shot was a delight.
It seemed both teams were happy to settle for their luck until Milan substitute Brahim Diaz added a fourth, the standout Hauge, this time the creator. For Lennon, Sunday’s meeting with St Johnstone was always the most important event. How times have changed.
