The difficulty of the Champions League was made abundantly clear to Celtic this week after their 7-1 defeat away to Borussia Dortmund.
After the highs of matchday one, the Bhoys were brought back down to earth with a crater on Tuesday night, reminding them of just how brutal the tournament can be when not at the top of your game.
It’s not going to get any easier in the coming weeks, either.
Next is a daunting trip to Atalanta, and on Wednesday night, the Italians were keen to show their danger after a run of three matches without a victory against Arsenal, Como, and Bologna.
Atalanta show ruthless ability ahead of Celtic
They played away to Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday two and powered to a 3-0 victory, banging in all their goals by the hour mark to kill off the game early.
Berat Djimsti, Ademola Lookman and Raoul Bellanova were all on the scoresheet to follow up their 0-0 result at home to the Gunners on the opening night.
The Italians look every bit as dangerous to Celtic as Dortmund were. They are aggressive out of possession and expertly exploit space in transition.
Brendan Rodgers will need to devise a strong, specific game plan to counter their threats, as nobody wants to see another brutal hammering. Celtic must be competitive in the match on 23rd October.
How all of Celtic’s opponents fared in the Champions League
Aston Villa don’t play Celtic until January but they picked up a headline 1-0 result against Bayern Munich in a repeat of the 1982 European Cup Final.
RB Leipzig, Celtic Park visitors on matchday four, suffered their second consecutive European defeat, losing 3-2 at home to ten-man Juventus.
Club Brugge picked up an impressive away victory against Sturm Graz, demonstrating that they are well capable of travelling to Glasgow and achieving a result in November.
Dinamo Zagreb drew 2-2 at home to Monaco, while Young Boys suffered their own demoralising hammering away to Barcelona with a 5-0 scoreline.
Where Celtic sit in the Champions League table now
After making it up to second after the first week, Celtic have now dropped to 20th in the table, level on points with nine other teams.
Three points after two matches was likely always Brendan Rodgers’ side’s realistic aim. In that sense, the defeat in Dortmund hasn’t impacted the trajectory of Celtic’s European campaign too much.
To hope for progress, the Bhoys need at least six points from the final six matches. Given that there are still three home matches to play, that’s achievable.
Even if defeat comes against Atalanta next time, Celtic are well in the hunt for a top-24 playoff position.
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