M
SM
Tuesday, February 19

Scottish Premiership

Celtic

Europa League

TIMELINE

Oliver Burke struggles on European debut

By Andy Newport, | 4d
The Celtic forward was unable to prevent a 2-0 home defeat to Valencia in the Europa League.

Celtic new boy Oliver Burke made his first ever appearance in European competition as the Hoops hosted Valencia in their Europa League last 32 clash.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at how the on-loan West Brom forward fared as Brendan Rodgers' Hoops suffered a damaging 2-0 first-leg defeat at Parkhead.

Goal threat

The 21-year-old had made a decent enough start to his Parkhead career with three goals in his first six starts. But this was a major step up from what the Scotland international has faced so far in Glasgow and Burke struggled with the increase in quality. The LaLiga giants' control in midfield and a string of basic Celtic errors meant he was starved of service for much of the game. It did look as though Burke was set to break free of his shackles towards the end of the first half when Scott Sinclair sent him scampering in behind the Valencia defence, but stopper Neto raced from his line to clear before he could get a strike away.

Other contributions

Oliver Burke, left, battles with Valencia's Geoffrey Kondogbia (Ian Rutherford/PA)

Burke got himself in a couple of scrapes with Mouctar Diakhaby early on but, with Valencia hogging the ball, Celtic were forced deep and their loan frontman was left increasingly isolated. He tried to put the Spaniards' back four under pressure but it was a thankless task as the former Nottingham Forest and RB Leipzig youngster was made to shuttle between Diakhaby and his defensive partner Ezequiel Garay while they simply popped passes off to spare team-mates. The introduction of Odsonne Edouard to partner Burke just before the hour mark should have cut his workload but the visitors still managed to ease their way through the final stages.

Overall

Burke is by no means a natural frontman and leading the line is not his strong suit. With raw pace, he will always be a threat with a ball worked in behind the opposition defence but, on nights like tonight when Rodgers' side were starved of possession, they need someone who can hold up play and relieve the pressure weighing down their defence. At 6ft 2ins, the youngster seems to have all the physical traits needed to compete with even the burliest of defenders but for some reason that is just not Burke's game right now.



amp_article_350381 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2019-02-14 23:13:58:
html db last update - 2019-02-19 02:06:39 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html
Share this article now:
Loading ...

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Select and display your favourite team's news and scores in this panel
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City27212474205465
2Liverpool26205159154465
3Tottenham HotspurSpurs26200654252960
4Manchester UnitedMan Utd26156552351751
5Arsenal26155653371650
6Chelsea26155645291650
7Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2611693433139
8Watford2610793434037
9Everton2796123639-333
10West Ham UnitedWest Ham2696113239-733
11Bournemouth26103133747-1033
12Leicester CityLeicester2695123134-332
13Crystal Palace2676132734-727
14Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2676132839-1127
15Burnley2676132947-1827
16Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2667132234-1225
17Cardiff CityCardiff2674152447-2325
18Southampton2659122844-1624
19Fulham2645172558-3317
20Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2625191448-3411
Scroll for more - Tap for full version

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
UC
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Select and display your favourite team's news and scores in this panel
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City27212474205465
2Liverpool26205159154465
3Tottenham HotspurSpurs26200654252960
4Manchester UnitedMan Utd26156552351751
5Arsenal26155653371650
6Chelsea26155645291650
7Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2611693433139
8Watford2610793434037
9Everton2796123639-333
10West Ham UnitedWest Ham2696113239-733
11Bournemouth26103133747-1033
12Leicester CityLeicester2695123134-332
13Crystal Palace2676132734-727
14Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2676132839-1127
15Burnley2676132947-1827
16Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2667132234-1225
17Cardiff CityCardiff2674152447-2325
18Southampton2659122844-1624
19Fulham2645172558-3317
20Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2625191448-3411
Scroll for more - Tap for full version
X

We value your privacy

A part of our GDPR compliance we need to ask for your consent. We and our partners use technology such as cookies on Sports Mole to personalise content and ads, provide social media features, and analyse our traffic. Click below to consent to the use of this technology on Sports Mole.