As soon as the ball rolled agonisingly into the corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s net, Cameron Carter-Vickers became a figure of Champions League infamy.
With his name swiftly going viral on social media, footage of *that* own goal against Club Brugge started to spread like wildfire.
It was a moment of total calamity. Without looking up to check where his goalkeeper was positioned, the man they call CCV blindly passed the ball back into his own net.
There were some who claimed it might just be the most comical own goal in the tournament’s history.
Not that the Celtic centre-half would have seen the funny side. Putting his hands on his head as soon as he realised what he’d done, he probably wanted the ground to swallow him up.
Once the initial sense of shock had passed, it felt obvious to ask what had gone so badly wrong that Celtic’s best defender could be guilty of such a catastrophic error?
Cameron Carter-Vickers buries his head in his hands after horrendous own goal
The defender didn’t look to see where Schmeichel was positioned and passed ball into own net
Club Brugge’s Maxim De Cuyper reacts with glee as Schmeichel looks on helplessly
In the immediate aftermath, Schmeichel and Callum McGregor rounded the players into a huddle and held an impromptu inquest.
Given the lack of bodies showing for the ball in midfield, most notably Reo Hatate and Arne Engels, Nicolas Kuhn was forced to dribble the ball back to the edge of his own box before passing to Carter-Vickers.
That seemed to be a point an animated McGregor was making to both Hatate and Engels, the two midfielders who occupy the wide channels in Brendan Rodgers’ 4-3-3 system.
Against a slick Brugge side who were going man-to-man and pressing high up the pitch, Celtic couldn’t afford two midfielders to be drifting around so aimlessly.
Trying to impose their style of football and play through the press, it was easy to question the wisdom of Celtic’s tactical approach.
Earlier in the campaign against Borussia Dortmund, trying to play out from the back had brought ruinous consequences.
What unfolded at Signal Iduna Park became an exercise in naivety as Celtic repeated the same mistakes time and again in the face of Dortmund’s high press.
It became total madness. The players were guilty of overplaying deep in their own half and Rodgers did nothing to bring about any change on the touchline.
Schmeichel and skipper McGregor held an impromptu huddle with players after the own goal
Alistair Johnston tries to console team-mate Carter-Vickers after his howler
Daizen Maeda, far right, got his colleague out of hot water when he scored equaliser
Manager Brendan Rodgers was happy to see Celtic get a point on a tough night at Parkhead
However, what happened against Brugge on Wednesday night was different. This wasn’t a failure of Celtic’s tactical approach or a demonstration of naivety.
It was simply a case of a player suffering a complete and utter aberration..
No coaching manual can account for that. Rodgers can’t legislate for one of his most experienced players turning and playing the ball blindly back towards his own goal.
It was a horrendous mistake, one which will bring a few sleepless nights for Carter-Vickers. The big fella has probably replayed it in his mind 1,000 times by now.
While there will always be an element of risk and reward attached to teams playing out from the back, this wasn’t a repeat of the mistakes witnessed in Dortmund.
It’s important not to conflate the two issues. Rodgers was rightly criticised for his tactical inflexibility in Dortmund, but that wasn’t what caused this calamity.
Alistair Johnston was part of the inquest which followed and the Celtic right-back believes Carter-Vickers did well to overcome the mistake and move on.
‘I think if it happens to anyone, big CCV (Carter Vickers) is the least likely to be rocked by it,’ said Johnston. ‘He’s pretty strong mentally. It’s going to happen every once in a while as a backline.
‘When you want to play out from the back and there’s high pressure, sometimes things are going to get a little lost in translation.
‘He thought Kasper was in one place. He wasn’t. It ended up being a great finish! Kasper couldn’t get to it, which is frustrating and unlucky.
‘But, at the same time, I think he [Carter-Vickers] was fine for the rest of the match. He’s one of those guys that you don’t really have to worry about that kind of stuff. I’m happy that, if it had to happen to anyone, it was him.’
When the dust eventually settled, with Daizen Maeda going on to score a terrific equaliser, a point felt like a decent result for Celtic given the circumstances.
They had been outplayed for much of the contest by a Brugge team who pressed high up the pitch and looked quick and dangerous with the ball.
In years gone by, this would have been a game Celtic ended up losing by two or three goals. In the end, they rolled up their sleeves and dug in to claim a valuable point.
‘It was a really difficult first half for us,’ added Johnston. ‘We struggled to find the answers. But we made the necessary changes in the second half to get something out of the game.
‘At this level, if you’re not going to win a game, you’ve got to make sure you don’t lose it. So, again, that’s a point added. Of course, we would have wanted more.
‘But I think we have matured. If we need to, we can defend in a block of 4-4-2. We can get through those kind of difficult moments. It doesn’t rock us.
‘And also, we can use this crowd to our advantage and play attacking football. We don’t need to be scared to be who we are. I think that’s something that we’ve definitely shown this year.’
Celtic now have eight points from five matches so far, with three games left to play against Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys and Aston Villa.
The path to Champions League progression was never going to be straightforward, but it remains very much within their grasp as they now approach the home straight over December and January.
That said, Carter-Vickers would be best advised to avoid social media for the next few days at least. It was an own goal that was comical in its awfulness.
Celtic could yet have the last laugh, though, if they can navigate a path into the latter stages of Europe’s elite competition.
