Celtic opened the scoring early when Bologna made a mistake and Daizen Maeda found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but passed it to Reo Hatate, who might have had the easiest finish in the history of football to make it 1-0. Remarkably, the Hoops would go into the break two goals up, despite being a man down, thanks to Auston Trusty’s effort in the 40th minute.
That had the fans dreaming of a famous win away in Italy. Unfortunately, that was not on the cards this night. And most supporters pointed the finger at one guy.
It is none other than Hatate, who scored the opener, but had a night to forget. He would pick up a yellow card in the first half. One would expect someone of his experience to not be bothered by it. Instead, he made a poor decision just minutes later and picked up his second caution, being sent off as a result. It was not the strongest challenge by any means but the Japanese midfielder did seem to lash out, and the Bologna player did not need a second invitation to go out and make the most of it.
To be fair, a draw away in Italy is not the worst result by any means. But this could have turned out so much better if not for them one decision from Hatate.
‘His time’s up’ – Celtic fans are done with one player after draw vs Bologna
As one Celtic fan wrote after Hatate was shown the red card against Bologna: “He was a man short before his red card. His time’s up. Shift him on.”
And that is something that might get lost on the back of that red card. Hatate was poor throughout the game, even until that moment.
He gave the ball away constantly and did not show enough courage without it. He looks a shadow of the player who had been a breath of fresh when he had joined the club four years back.