Celtic lost two late goals against the Danish side that are now guaranteed European Football in 2009. It was a strange match, with Celtic creating more chances in one away European Tie in the Champions League than they have created in every other away match combined and still managed to go home empty handed.
As the game wore on it had an element of inevitability to it as Celtic looked totally confused by the fact that they were a goal to the good away from home. It was almost as if the psychological strain of knowing that they should have had the game out of sight married with the notion that were close to achieving their first ever away win in the Champions league was too much for many players to take. The one criticism I would levy at the hands of Manager and Captain is that the sting should have been taken out of the game when Aalborg equalised. Did they not realise that a score draw would have been enough to secure third place? Maybe we should have realised that this was not to have been our night in front of goal and should have stopped chasing the game.
Celtic can feel unlucky not to have won this game convincingly, let alone lose two goals from deflections. Shunsuke Nakamura missed a guilt edged chance when one on one with the keeper and he was quick to take responsibility for his costly miss.
Nakamura said: "I should have scored. The ball took a bad bounce but it should not have mattered. I saw their keeper off his line and tried to chip him.
"It is a big disappointment. We were winning, playing well and looking good for another goal. Nobody said anything after the game. It was one of the worst moments I can recall."
Another player who missed not one but two guilt edged chances was not as quick to take responsibility for his own actions. Georgios Samaras could have been forgiven for missing his chances given he is still rehabilitating after an injury but the affable Greek striker decided to blame the final pass rather than his own inability to connect with a inch perfect pass from Nakamura in the first half or a perfectly delivered corner in the second.
"Maybe we didn't create as many chances as we would have liked and the final pass was not the best but we didn't deserve to lose like that. Aalborg had more luck than us, simple as that.
Right you are Georgios, we created more than enough chances to win that game, and whilst I refuse to place the blame for this loss on any one player or indeed the manager for that matter for you to blame the quality of the final ball for your profligacy is astounding.
And so the post mortem continues, with many people yet again questioning the Managers future. Those who state that it was the Managers fault may do so with the pain of the loss still in their minds but can you really question the Manager when his stewardship gave us the opportunities to play on the European stage in the first place? Can you really question the wee man's ability when his players cannot put the ball in the back of the net from 4 yards? As I said previously I refuse to blame any one person for this defeat, but the over-reaction from some supporters in calling for the managers head on a plate is frankly embarrassing, more embarrassing in fact than the defeat that inspired their wrath.
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt