'A few mistakes are going to happen': Explanation behind calamitous Celtic own goal and defence of Joe Hart's Leipzig moment

The tight friendship Josip Juranovic has developed with his Celtic team-mate Joe Hart is perhaps reflected in how the Croatian reacts to recent mishaps involving the seasoned keeper.

Hart’s misplaced pass that led directly to RB Leipzig’s second goal in their 3-1 Champions League victory over Ange Postecoglou’s men on Wednesday was the second injudicious moment from the England international in as many games. For although Juranovic was credited as an own goal scorer in the Scottish champions 2-1 win at home to Motherwell days before their European trip, the positioning of Hart as the ball drifted into the net appeared questionable. The 27-year-old full-back is unequivocal that the Celtic keeper - who produced a couple of fine blocks in midweek, it should be noted - will demonstrate his class when Leipzig are up once again for Postecoglou’s side on Tuesday at Celtic Park. An encounter the home side must win to retain strong prospects of progressing from Group A after taking only one point from their first three games. A tally that doesn’t do full justice to their attacking verve in the 3-0 reverse in Glasgow against Real Madrid and the 1-1 in the away fixture with Shakhtar Donetsk.

“It is a game in which he can show once again who he is. Joe is our second leader, a great character and an excellent goalkeeper,” said Juranovic. “He made a mistake in Germany but there is no way it will break him because he is a champion. He has been so for many years. As Joe said afterwards, we play the way the manager wants us to play, the attacking way that the players want to play and it does put individuals under pressure at certain moments.

“A few mistakes are going to happen but they do not outweigh all the good things that we produce as a group. For example, if you look at all our Champions League matches so far you will see we have created many, many, chances to score. If we had put a higher percentage of them away then we would already be in a much stronger position. As we did last year, though, against teams like Leverkusen and Betis we are showing we cause problems for some of the biggest teams. It is exciting and it is where we want to be.”

Celtic's Josip Juranovic looks dejected after scoring an own goal in the club's in over Motherwell last weekend. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

And there is no lingering angst from Juranovic over Hart not proving where the defender wanted him to be when he had his unwanted scoring moment against Motherwell. “It was a mix up because I believed if that I chested it back then Joe would be in the perfect position to receive the ball,” he said. “At the same time, he was sure he could come out and collect it. Unfortunately, we both could not be right and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Of course, you do not want these misunderstandings to happen but this is football and it is always possible. Joe and I spoke about it after the game, the manager spoke about it too [when mentioning it was not FIFA where he could control the players] and we have moved on.”