AC Milan see off late Celtic revival to strike with hammer-blow third in stoppage time

Celtic’s Europa League group campaign began with defeat at home to AC Milan, who took the spoils with first-half goals from Rade Krunic and Brahim Diaz and – after a revival in which Mohamed Elyounoussi brought the deficit back to 2-1 – an injury time strike from Jens Petter Hauge.

The contrast between Celtic’s performances before and after the interval will both encourage their supporters and prompt them to ask why it had not been triggered from the start.

It has become a commonplace to speak of the disturbing atmospheric vacuum in which football is conducted now but the contrast with what might have been is nevertheless much more pronounced on certain occasions, this being one such instance. In normal times, Glasgow’s East End would scarcely have recovered from the impact of a weekend Old Firm derby than its streets, pubs, fast food outlets and street vendors would be working flat out to service the frenetic and unique ambience of Celtic at home to a major European presence, even if – as in Milan’s case – a former power has fallen upon harder times.

Both of these sides are, in fact, amongst the six former European Cup winners in the Europa League group stage and their most recent meeting was in November 2013, prior to significant developments for both clubs. For Neil Lennon, the 3-0 defeat was the last European match of his first spell as Hoops manager, while Milan posted their last victory in the Champions League before they embarked upon an exclusion from that competition which has yet to end.

Indeed, they were fortunate to get this far in the Europa League, only beating Rio Ave – 15th in the Portuguese table – by 11-10 in a penalty shootout in the previous round, although they arrived at Celtic Park buoyed by a 2-1 win over Inter in Saturday’s derby. Celtic, of course, had the opposite experience against Rangers on the same afternoon, losing 2-0 to their arch-foes from Ibrox.

Lennon made two changes, Elyounoussi and Patryk Klimala making way for Leigh Griffiths and Albian Ajeti. The 20-year-old Stephen Welsh made his third start in opposition to the 39-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but it was the Milan defenders who were under early pressure as the Celtic wing-backs pushed upfield.

Jeremie Frimpong’s energy discomfited Theo Hernandez into a completely misplaced pass across the edge of his own penalty area which was intercepted by Ajeti, who switched it into the path of Griffiths as the striker pushed behind the Milan back line. Griffiths, though, had strayed offside and Celtic’s best chance of the half had gone.

The price was exacted within two minutes when Milan won a free kick close to the position from which Rangers scored their opener on Sunday and, from Samu Castillejo’s delivery, Krunic rose above Welsh to head cleanly beyond Vasilis Barkas. From this early advantage, Milan dominated possession and it was a logical development for Ibrahamovic and Hernandez to free Diaz to double their margin just before the break.

Lennon acted vigorously at the break, replacing Griffiths and Welsh with Elyounoussi and Christie then, just after the hour mark, sent Tom Rogic on for Scott Brown. Milan, meanwhile, withdrew Ibrahamovic and Franck Kessie, as the visitors tried to stem Celtic’s greatly enhanced energy and movement. They were breached in the 75^th minute when Elyounoussi met a Christie corner kick with an angled header across the line to ensure an enthralling finale of relentless Hoops pressure, until Hauge skewered Celtic with an injury time counterattack.