Postecoglou’s Celtic humbled in Madrid, end Champions League tilt winless

By Tales Azzoni

November 3, 2022 — 7.09am

Madrid: Real Madrid converted two penalty kicks and saw goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois save another — all in the first half — as they comfortably defeated Celtic 5-1 to secure first place in Champions League Group F on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).

Luka Modric converted a penalty in the sixth minute and Rodrygo another in the 21st, then Thibaut stopped one taken by Josip Juranovic in the 35th to leave Madrid in control at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Marco Asensio, with a shot from near the penalty spot after a pass by Dani Carvajal, added to the lead in the 51st.

Vinicius Junior then netted the fourth after a cross by Federico Valverde in the 61st, and Valverde himself closed the scoring for the hosts with a shot from outside the area in the 71st.

Jota put Celtic on the board with a well-struck free kick that curled over the Madrid wall in the 84th.

With his goal from the spot, the 37-year-old Modric became the oldest player to convert a penalty in the Champions League, surpassing Lille’s Burak Yilmaz’s mark as a 36-year-old from earlier this year. It was Modric’s ninth goal in 111th Champions League appearances.

Champions League matchday 6 results

Wednesday (AEDT):

Porto 2 Atletico Madrid 1
Bayer Leverkusen 0 Club Brugge 0
Bayern Munich 2 Inter Milan 0
Liverpool 2 Napoli 0
Marseille 1 Tottenham 2
Rangers 1 Ajax 3
Viktoria Plzen 2 Barcelona 4
Sporting Lisbon 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 2

Thursday fixtures:

Real Madrid 5 Celtic 1
Shakhtar Donetsk 0 RB Leipzig 4
7am kick-offs: AC Milan v RB Salzburg, Maccabi Haifa v Benfica, Copenhagan v Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City v Sevilla, Juventus v PSG, Chelsea v Dinamo Zagreb.

Madrid was coming off a 3-2 loss at Leipzig in the previous round — their first defeat of the season in all competitions — and needed the home victory against last-placed Celtic to get the group win and a theoretically easier opponent in the next stage.

The group winners will be drawn against the second-place finishers in the round of 16.

Madrid finished with 13 points, one more than Leipzig, who won 4-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk in the other group match on Wednesday.

Shakhtar ended third with six points, securing a spot in the Europa League play-offs.

Celtic earned their two points from 1-1 draws against Shakhtar. Madrid’s other setback in addition to the loss at Leipzig also was a draw at Shakhtar.