Celtic’s goalkeeper Joe Hart sees a silver lining in his team’s 2-0 defeat to Feyenoord in Rotterdam, during their opening match of the UEFA Champions League Group E.
Despite the loss, Hart insists the performance gives the Scottish side grounds for optimism as they look to rewrite their recent underwhelming Champions League history.
Feyenoord, the reigning Dutch champions, managed to secure the win, but Celtic’s second-half revival hopes were quashed due to red cards shown to Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm.
Between these red cards, Hart, a former England international, pulled off a penalty save before conceding a second goal in the 76th minute.
Hart had also let in the first goal during injury time in the opening half, a 30-yard free-kick from Calvin Stengs, even as Celtic showed resilience in the first 45 minutes.
Celtic’s Champions League track record remains grim, with just a single win in their last 22 group-stage outings. The sense of déjà vu was palpable among fans who recalled last season’s disappointing campaign that yielded a mere two points.
When questioned about whether the team is stuck in a repetitive cycle of disappointment, Hart responded: [BBC]
“At the moment it feels like that but we are at the start of a new adventure. That’s the great thing about football, it always gives you a chance. This is a brand new season, whatever has been, has been.
“It’s a tournament of six games for us and we believe we put ourselves in a good position to play Feyenoord at home.
“Obviously we have got four other games that we need to take care of compete in. Now we know one of our rivals in this tournament, we feel like we can definitely compete with them.
“We had plenty of character, desire and buying into the messages that we are being given.
“We were in a good game, a close, close game and obviously a few things went against us, some of them self-inflicted, and you fall on the wrong side in this competition.
“But overall, 11 v 11, I felt like we could have given it a right good go. “An avoidable goal just before half-time and two red cards makes it difficult.”
