Celtic deserved nothing- the myth from Almaty

Just One More Thing- Before anyone jumps in with Celtic ‘fanboy’ or ‘apologist’ let me be clear: I’m far from either.

Think of it like a doctor’s bedside manner — brutal, unflinching truth. You’re told you’ve got cancer, four weeks to live. There’s no sugar-coating. That’s what I’m doing here.

Look, the team were poor in the matches against Kairat Almaty. Absolutely, but here’s the brutal fact: football is a chances game. A single moment can win a match. A miss can feel like the end of the world. I don’t need stats to tell me the fact is we should have won a football game. It’s a boring, horrible fact of the matter.

Stats? Not My Usual Bag

I don’t normally lean on stats, and they’re not needed to see the reality here. But for this piece, they help show how ridiculous the narrative has become. Across two legs, Celtic created four clear-cut, must-score chances — opportunities any professional team should convert:

Kairat Away

24’ Forrest – Free header, keeper saves.

85’ Maeda – 1 v 1 vs keeper, blasts over the bar.

ET 106’ McCowan – Unmarked inside box cut-back; poor effort produces diving save.

ET 112’ Nygren – Six-yard box angle, options available; shoots, good save by keeper.

Even ignoring the stats, these are clear-cut opportunities that define a match. And yet the line ‘we deserved nothing’ is being repeated as if fact.

The Performance vs Standard

The performance wasn’t anywhere near Celtic’s standard. But it wouldn’t even be remembered had the clear-cut chances we created to win both matches been converted, had we taken the victory overall. It’s not up for debate. It’s not a made-up lie. I don’t need to make things up and it’s insulting that Celtic ‘fan’ media platforms post match just lies for lies sake. ‘The match was lost in Glasgow’ was a favourite of mine, some talking head on ACSOM groaned.

Maeda’s Role

Celtic’s defensive structure held firm over both legs — clean sheets, the back door shut. They did their part. That meant the front men had to do theirs. Daizen Maeda let us down when the team did everything to position us to win. His failure includes missing clear-cut chances in both legs. This isn’t hyperbole — the opportunities were there, the platform was built, and it was squandered at the moments that mattered. Penalties are irrelevant — 0-0 over two legs and extra time is proof that only part of the team held up their bargain, and Maeda failed to deliver the finishing required of a Celtic striker.

Deserving vs Outcome

Here’s the philosophical point:

Celtic produced all the conditions for victory. Did they lose? No — 0-0 over two legs.

Did Almaty deserve to win? Not in the football actually played.

If Maeda had finished, the outcome would have matched the merit created on the pitch.

The Club Context

Celtic are run by a cautious board, risking long-term health by not investing adequately in squad quality. Better players are needed — no argument. But the narrative of ‘we deserved nothing’ is as detached from reality as last season’s overzealous comparisons of Maeda to the King of Kings. Facts matter.

The Takeaway

Criticise Celtic’s failings — poor finishing, inconsistency, composure — fine. But don’t spin ‘we deserved nothing’ like as fact. Even without stats, it’s obvious: Celtic earned the game. Almaty’s ‘heroic’ narrative exists only because of penalties.

To round up, I don’t care what you think of this because I’m not asking. Football illiteracy isn’t just the Scottish footballing Media landscape, Celtics fan media have plenty of skin in that particular game.

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