Beyond midnight, many miles beyond the borders of Europe, a rookie goalkeeper by the name of Temirlan Anarbekov wrote his name into Celtic infamy, the 21-year-old making the penalty shootout saves that guided Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan into the Champions League group stage.
Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and Daizen Maeda saw their attempts saved by a keeper turned to in emergency. Kasper Schmeichel, his opposite number, could only offer congratulations as Celtic incurred the heavy cost of a poor performance and even worse composure from the spot.
The Celtic board’s unpopular decision to wait to do transfer business until Champions League qualification was banked now appears prudent, though a lack of fresh attacking talent looked the team’s problem. Where this failure leaves Brendan Rodgers’ reign is another question. The Champions League group stage was worth four times the qualification revenue and win bonuses of the Europa League. The greater weight of history and destiny lay with Kairat. From Kazakhstan, only Astana, a decade ago, had previously reached the Champions League group stage.
Domestic dominance allowed rotation and rest from a weekend defeat of Livingston but a lack of quality peers is sub-optimal for a key engagement so early in the campaign. A lack of sharpness and fresh talent had caused fretting among Bhoys supporters, 300 of whom travelled 3,500 miles to Central Asia. It continued in Almaty.
