Nenad Bjelica wasn’t pleased with a point that all-but ends their time in the Champions League.
Defiant Dinamo Zagreb boss Nenad Bjelica insists that ONLY his side deserved to win their Champions League stalemate with Celtic.
Brendan Rodgers’ side dominated the ball during the league phase clash finishing the 90 minutes holding a whopping 68 per cent of possession. However, frustrated Bjelica binned the stats during a bullish post-match address as under-pressure Dinamo boss saw his hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stages all-but ended by the Scottish Premiership leaders.
The Croatian champions sit on eight points but with clashes against Arsenal and Milan to round off the league phase they appear unlikely to add to their tally as they search for a spot in the top 24. But Bjelica came out swinging post-match declaring: “My boys played a great game today. They achieved everything I asked of them, we didn’t allow anything to the opponent.
“We had a very good chance from Pjaca, two shots from Baturina, so if anyone should have won, it was us. Rog and Kacavenda did a great job in the middle, neither of them are defensive midfielders, but they did a perfect job in defence. They also brought some momentum forward when they could.”
But in contrast, Brendan Rodgers reckons Celtic’s Dinamo draw was a missed opportunity. The boss is happy his team remains on course for the play-offs having advanced to nine points with two games to go in January.
But, asked if it felt like a missed chance to register a first away win in seven years in the competition, Rodgers said: “Yeah, it does, but I think that’s my honest answer. We needed to do more, we needed to know.
“But we know that and that’s the truth. We were honest as a group, we know it was an opportunity for us here, but you have to show that a little bit more in those moments when you’re right back in there. Too often it just came away from us. The pitch was a little bit tricky in parts, but when we got into the final third, there wasn’t anything.
You could see that from the shots on target we had, so that was really the only downside for the game for us. We had great energy, we had good commitment.
“Towards the end, we couldn’t make that breakthrough. We had a great move. Arne [Engels] squares it and the defender makes an absolutely brilliant block.
“I think the positive is that we’ve come away again and were defensively strong and we didn’t concede. Obviously, when you have that confidence to do that in Europe, it really helps you as you make your steps forward.
“It’s in the Champions League and you get a clean sheet and you take a point away from home and you’re not very happy. Then that shows you how much and how far the team has progressed.
