Scott Brown: Celtic loss in Astana was like '˜game of basketball'

Celtic captain Scott Brown compared his side's 4-3 Champions League clinching defeat in Astana to a game of basketball.

Scott Brown and his side lost a thrilling second leg but still advanced to the Champions League. Picture: SNS

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Brendan Rodgers’ safely made it through to the group stages though they were made to sweat in the second half of the second leg, particularly when Patrick Twumasi netted his second of the game to make it 4-1 with over 20 minutes remaining, cutting Celtic’s aggregate advantage to 6-4.

Olivier Ntcham would put the contest beyond doubt with a deflected strike, which was added to by Leigh Griffiths, but the away side’s skipper was quick to admit they were far from at their best in Kazakhstan.

Brown said: “The first game at Celtic Park was phenomenal for us, not so much coming over here but we knew we would score goals. It was an exciting game for the neutral but not so much for us.

“If you look at the shots on target it was 19-20 shots on target [17, according to the BBC], it was a game of basketball and it’s not like us to be perfectly honest. Usually we are very tight and we were a bit too open today.”