Celtic were one top striker away from knocking Bayern Munich out of the Champions League, according to ex-Newcastle United goalscorer Alan Shearer.
Brendan Rodgers’ side arrived in Bavaria trailing Vincent Kompany’s Bundesliga leaders 2-1 on aggregate. In the first half, Callum McGregor and Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn had excellent opportunities to score, while a cross from Arne Engels was inches away from finding Daizen Maeda at the back post.
But 31 minutes after Kuhn gave the Scottish Premiership leaders a well-deserved second-half lead at the Allianz Arena to level the tie, Alphonso Davies bundled in a 94th-minute clincher for Bayern to leave Celtic players and fans heartbroken. After the match, Shearer praised the Bhoys’ display, insisting all they lacked was a more clinical forward.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer said: “It was so cruel. I must admit, before the game, I saw them making it difficult at times, but I did not see them playing as well as they did. I tell you what, if they had a finisher up top, they would be in the round of 16 now, there’s no doubt about that.
“They had three or four unbelievable chances in the first 20 or 30 minutes. They were knocking it around, every player was comfortable, Brendan Rodgers got his tactics spot on.
“It was a really, really impressive performance from Celtic. Their movement, everything about them looked really good.”
Lineker agreed with his fellow former striker, also insisting that he felt sorry for the disappointed Celtic players after the match.
Rodgers may also echo Shearer’s thoughts, as he admitted he wanted to sign a striker in the January transfer window. The Bhoys had to wave goodbye to Kyogo Furuhashi, who departed Celtic Park to join Rennes after scoring 85 goals for the Celts over the course of his time at the club.
While Jota returned to Celtic in the other direction as Jeffrey Schlupp arrived from Crystal Palace, Rodgers admitted his heart was set on bringing in another centre-forward. When the window shut, Rodgers said: “I said it myself, we wanted another striker, so we’re not hiding behind anything. And absolutely, the supporters will look and see that a top striker has gone out, a legendary striker.
“So I understand that. But all I can do is affect what we have now and look to teach and work very hard and finish off what has been, until now, a great season for us.”
He added: “I don’t want to pin blame on anyone here. I think as a collective, it wasn’t ideal how it ended for us.
“We have to, as a club now, go away and look at that, like we do in every window. I’m not going to become frustrated and kill my joy of working here by thinking about what could have been.”