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WGoalkeeper Joe Hart says Celtic won’t shy away from Ange Postecoglou’s fearless style despite a costly howler in the 3-1 Champions League loss to Leipzig on Thursday.
Celtic are bottom of Group F with one draw and two losses with Hart’s 64th minute mistake gifting Leipzig their second goal at Red Bull Arena.
The former England international passed the ball straight to Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai who then teed up Andre Silva for the go-ahead goal.
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“I’m at fault for the second goal, no doubt about it,” Hart said.
“But that’s the way the manager (Postecoglou) wants us to play so that’s the the way we play. Sometimes it’s going to hurt us but ultimately, most of the time, as we proved tonight we got through the press and gave ourselves a real opportunity to score goals.
“They were pressing with three and I wasn’t quite sure whether to go to the centre half or Greg (Taylor). I decided to go for Greg and I missed.
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“That’s the simple facts but it’s high level football and something I love playing and you make a mistake and you get punished.”
Leipzig’s outstanding Christopher Nkunku had a goal ruled out early through VAR but the Frenchman showed his class in the 27th minute when he went past Hart and finished from a narrow angle.
Then Nkunku shone again with a brilliant ball for Mohamed Simakan to tee up Silva to seal the result in the 77th.
Celtic’s Portuguese winger Jota scored his first Champions League goal in the 47th when Kyogo Furuhashi sent him through for a one-on-one with Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.
Jota sidefooted a low shot inside the far post but that was as good as it got for Celtic.
“We’re not going back down,” Hart said.
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“We’re here to try and do something special and we’ll continue doing that. It was a good game. Two teams playing good football and we came unstuck more than they did. Big moments, a lot of pressure.
“We have two big games at home in a row which we believe if we play to our potential we can win and the group will look different.”
But an injury to captain Callum McGregor was another setback as Celtic reset for their next assignment in the Scottish Premiership against St Johnstone on Saturday.
“In defence of Ange… the football that they’re playing now is the best I’ve seen of them in the time I’ve been doing Champions League,” Craig Foster said on Stan Sport.
“I was surprised how good Leipzig were, outstanding.”
Foster described Hart’s costly pass as “horrible.”
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“It wasn’t even close to anyone. People are saying he’s (Hart) having a go at Ange (with his style of play comments) – I didn’t read it that way.
“That’s how all the top teams are playing.”
Former Socceroos coach Postecoglou looked crestfallen after the loss.
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“Disappointed, I thought we were well in the game,” he said.
“After we scored we went into our shells a little bit and got a bit negative with our passing. The second goal changed the course of the game.”
Meanwhile, Noah Okafor earned Salzburg a 1-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in Group E by rolling in a coolly taken penalty to score for the third straight group game.
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