Counter-attacks and 'mini-blitzes': Celtic 1-1 Shakhtar Donetsk in focus

Giorgos Giakoumakis - trusted to lead the line with Kyogo Furuhashi starting in a deeper role - opened the scoring with a lethal penalty-box finish in the 34th minute.

The Ukrainians equalised through talisman Mykhailo Mudryk shortly before the hour mark while both sides had chances to move ahead again as the second half wore on.

A draw keeps Shakhtar in the hunt for a last-16 spot but it ensured Ange Postecoglou's men would not be competing in Europe beyond next week.

The manager made five changes to his starting XI from the 4-3 Premiership win over Hearts at the weekend.

Josip Juranovic, Greg Taylor, Kyogo, Liel Abada and Sead Haksabanovic were all restored to the line-up at the expense of Anthony Ralston, Alexandro Bernabei, Aaron Mooy, Daizen Maeda and James Forrest.

Mooy, Maeda and Forrest all made appearances from the bench alongside the returning David Turnbull.

Here, The Celtic Way highlights some of the key StatsBomb data from the game to give you a match report experience like no other.

xG/trendline

Neither side came flying out the blocks and there was only one attempt conjured in the first 10 minutes - Giakoumakis's off-target long-ranger.

That trend continued in the proceeding 10 minutes with a scarcity of opportunities for both teams. 

From the 23rd minute Celtic burst into life, though. Between that mark and 11 minutes later they more than doubled their attempts with a mini-blitz of attempts, kept Shakhtar to only one further effort and managed to score the opening goal of the game as well.

That finish - by Giakoumakis after an Abada shot had been blocked - was statistically the 'best' chance of the match at 0.64 xG. There was something of a second 'mini-blitz' after the break too - when the Hoops made three chances in a minute including Kyogo's 0.41-rated effort.

Notably, the Danylo Sikan 'miss' which has gone viral on social media is not counted as a shot (rather, it was a miscontrol) and so does not constitute a chance in terms of carrying an xG value.

Mudryk's breakaway attempt just before half-time was the visitors' best chance of the opening 45 at 0.28 xG. It was overtaken by Oleksandr Zubkov's 0.44-rated back-post sliding effort in the 54th minute from Lassina Traore's miscued shot.

Celtic just edged it in terms of the best five chances with three (the top-rated, third-best and fifth-best) to Shakhtar's two. Mudryk's equaliser did not make it into the top 10 chances of the match, solidifying his quality in executing it with defenders in his way and Joe Hart in almost the ideal position as per StatsBomb's keeper cone feature.

StatsBomb records the final cumulative xG totals as 1.75-0.99 in Celtic's favour.

Our data provider also concludes that, based on the chances each side created, Celtic would have won the match 57 per cent of the time. This is in conjunction with the first match between the two in which the Hoops were deemed 77 per cent likely to win. 

Both games, of course, ended in a draw meaning Shakhtar essentially gained two points from these matches where Celtic 'dropped' four.

Shots

Celtic had 15 attempts at goal - two fewer than the first meeting. They had six inside the box which was half that of the last game between the sides. Of those, five came in close, central areas.

Three attempts were of mid-to-high-quality xG: Giakoumakis's goal, his attempt two minutes earlier and Kyogo's 62nd-minute chance.

The breakdown of the 15 efforts was as follows: five were on target, seven missed and three were blocked. Anatoliy Trubin made four saves. 

Twelve of the 15 attempts were created from open play - including the goal - with two coming from corners and one from an indirect free-kick.

Shakhtar generated eight attempts, three more than the first match in September. On that occasion they managed to create two shots inside the Celtic box. In Glasgow that number rose to five. 

Only two of those were in what could be termed close, central locations but this again does not count the opportunity created for Sikan.

Two of their eight efforts were on target with four blocked and Hart making two saves. Six were made from open play with the remaining two coming from corner kicks.

Individually, Matt O'Riley took the most shots in the match with six attempts. Giakoumakis followed close behind with five, albeit with three times the xG from those. Traore's three was the most of any Shakhtar player.

Possession, passing & positions

The network gives a sense of where the game was played and who was most involved. The warmer the colour the more influential the player, while the thicker the passing lines the more passes between the players.

In StatsBomb's OBV network, only Cameron Carter-Vickers and Juranovic possess a dark red node with Haksabanovic a dark orange. These three were the top trio match-wide for OBV (a fuller breakdown of which can be found here).

Celtic tend to take the shape of a rough 2-4-4 in these networks and that was, on the face of it, still the case against Shakhtar.

With Kyogo occupying the right '8' role he was naturally the most advanced midfielder - as Haksabanovic or O'Riley tend to be when they play there too.

On this occasion O'Riley generally placing higher than Reo Hatate offers some insight into how the inclusion of an attacker in the trio may have affected the other midfielders but just as much could speak to the Dane's attempts to both embrace his deeper '6' responsibility as well as his creative nature.

Comparing the first half to the second half perhaps a key takeaway is that the match was congested towards the right flank with a much narrower average position from the left wingers (Haksabanovic and then Maeda) as well as left-back Taylor.

Additionally, none of the subs managed more than ice-cold blue nodes for xG while only Forrest moved into light green territory for OBV.

Shakhtar's contain-and-counter gameplan is reflected in their pass network, in which there is only minute differences in terms of how deep the team tended to sit and who was the main outlet (it is no spoiler at this point to say that it was, course, Mudryk).

Like in the first meeting Celtic enjoyed more possession. On this occasion it was 54 per cent while completing 581 of 676 passes (86 per cent success). Shakhtar also completed 86 per cent (489 of 566).

Six Celts played at least one key pass with Haksabanovic dwarving the rest with four of his own. Mudryk made two for Shakhtar.

As mentioned, Carter-Vickers, Juranovic and Haksabanovic ranked highest for OBV during the match. O'Riley topped the xGChain ahead of Giakoumakis and Juranovic while Moritz Jenz appeared in three of Celtic's top five most common passing combinations and had the most touches (239).

Pressing and defending​

Celtic accumulated 126 pressures to the visitors' 112 and also made more than double the number of pressure regains (40 vs 19). 

While the Hoops' were content to press virtually anywhere in the final third, the visitors' pressure heatmap shows a particular emphasis on both flanks.

O'Riley had both most pressures (28) and counter-pressures (10) in the match as well as coming as top Celt for total pressing duration. Hatate took the mantle for counter-pressing duration.

Kyogo (17) and Giakoumakis (16) also reached double figures for pressures, while six Shakhtar players did as well.

Matt O'Riley's defensive actions map vs Shakhtar (Image: StatsBomb)

In the traditional defensive metrics, Juranovic made a game-high six interceptions as well as two tackles. 

O'Riley registered a match-high four tackles alongside two interceptions and an aerial win, although he was also the most dribbled past player (four times) and committed the most fouls (three).

Elsewhere, Taylor (three tackles, one interception, two aerial wins, two clearances and not dribbled past but dispossesed four times) and Haksabanovic (three tackles, one interception, one aerial win and not dribbled past) stood out.