Celtic supporters will be feeling deflated after a sobering defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last night that highlighted the stark gulf in class between both clubs on the pitch.
Despite being billed as a special occasion and the pre-match hype living up to expectations, it quickly spiralled into a familiar tale for the Bhoys against Dortmund, and they are left to lick their wounds after a bruising result against last year’s finalists.
In among the mix of feelings the players and fans are feeling right now, it is worth remembering the bigger Champions League picture for Celtic in the new format.
Points are there to be picked up across the Hoops’ next six Champions League fixtures, where they will face the likes of Young Boys and Dinamo Zagreb. Both sides also have suffered heavy defeats in the competition, so there is plenty to play for.
Addressing what will be a night Celtic will swiftly look to put behind them, Alistair Johnston has indicated how the dressing room will react to their unfateful night in North-Rhine Westphalia.
How the Celtic dressing room will react to Dortmund defeat
Speaking to BBC Sport Scotland post-match, Johnston indicated that Celtic won’t ‘wobble’ in the face of a heavy defeat and will instead look to learn from what he described as a ‘humbling’ experience.
He explained: “Yeah, of course, you don’t want to lose in the first place, but conceding seven is never fun. I mean, yeah, we’re not used to losing, obviously, and that’s a pretty humbling experience.
“At the same time, it’s one of the top teams in Europe and the Champions League finalists from last year and we knew it was going to be a really difficult game.
“We’ve got to take things from it; I think we’ll watch it back, be honest with ourselves; that’s what’s really good about this group and the coaching staff is that we are honest, and we’ve got to build on that.
“We’ve got to understand what we did wrong and what they punished us with, and what we did right, and there probably isn’t as many things that we did right in this match, unfortunately.
“At the same time, there will be little things, little moments where, okay, what’s the little kind of change that we need to do in terms of being more brave in our positioning, being more compact defensively and things like that, we’ll get it sorted out.
“It’s a really confident group that we have here; we’re not going to let this wobble us at all. We’ve just got to build on it and understand that it happens, but it can’t happen again; that’s what the Champions League is all about.”
Celtic’s approach in future Champions League fixtures
Reading the room, the dominant fan sentiment centres around Celtic’s approach to Champions League ties against elite opposition.
Former goalkeeper Pat Bonner thinks the Bhoys have to come up with a ‘different’ plan in similar future ties, and it is hard to disagree. There has to be a medium between going toe-to-toe with the best in Europe and sitting on the edge of your own box, praying to keep the score down.
For instance, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions kept 47% possession to Dortmund’s 53% but completed only 97 opposition half passes compared to Nuri Sahin’s outfit carrying out 210 [Fotmob]. That is the difference at the top level compared to domestic action.
Talent is abundant across this Celtic squad, something that shouldn’t be pushed to the side because one result didn’t go as planned. However, there are players present who are incompatible with playing through some of the most revered high-pressing teams in the world, and there is no shame in that.
Finding a balance has to be Brendan Rodgers‘ priority. Should the Bhoys manage to do so, there may well be an improvement across their remaining league phase clashes.
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