Callum McGregor hails Celtic bravery vs Atalanta as he pinpoints how Bhoys put Dortmund woes aside

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Celtic captain Callum McGregor led from the front as his side earned a point from a resilient display away to Atalanta in their third instalment of Champions League action this term.

The Bhoys’ league phase tally is now four points from three matches, recovering from an unfavorable night against Borussia Dortmund earlier in the month that resulted in a 7-1 defeat.

Turning the table, Celtic’s resolute display at Atalanta was something to be cherished by the support, with Brendan Rodgers’ tactical approach deserving all the plaudits that will come his way.

Despite not falling in line with the easy-on-the-eye football fans have become accustomed to on domestic duty, the Bhoys did what had to be done on a night when they had to avoid being sucker-punched by last campaign’s Europa League winners.

Capping their monumental effort with a valuable Champions League point, club captain Callum McGregor has highlighted the marked difference between performances on German and Italian shores.

Callum McGregor’s reaction to Celtic’s point vs Atalanta

Speaking to BBC Sport post-match, McGregor revealed that Celtic refused to be influenced by the outcome of previous events in Dortmund, leading to their brilliant result against Atalanta that was catalysed by their never-say-die attitude.

He stated, firstly on their Serie A opponents: “Absolutely, I don’t think you can come to many tougher places against a tougher opponent. They obviously won the Europa League last year, beat some big teams and were really strong and powerful.

“When you see them up close and personal, they’re all big strong boys, they can all play football, so there’s not many teams that will test you as much as they tested us tonight.

“Hopefully we can take big confidence from that and belief when the next game comes around, which we know will be another tough one as well.”

Later, he added on the contrast found in Dortmund and Atalanta fixtures: “There’s a train of though that could happen, after a heavy defeat you sort of speak your way through it and then when you get onto the pitch, you’ve still got that fear a little bit from what happened previously, but that was totally gone and the performance was much more like we are and hopefully that was an off-night.

“A lot of things went against us that night, you can see even in the competition last night, Dortmund lose five goals, that’s just the level that you’re playing at.

“It punishes you so quickly, but to come here tonight off the back of that, the players were so brave in terms of work against the ball and actually had good spells with the ball as well; just maybe that last little bit was missing, but hopefully that will come in time.”

Celtic will now set sights on getting back to winning ways

With the mood music at high volume, Celtic will be keen to hammer home their gleaned positivity on league duty away to Motherwell this weekend.

Eating into a run of exciting fixtures, Rodgers’ men could cement themselves on all fronts if they are able to prolong their unbeaten run across the next few matches.

Domestic fixtures against Motherwell and Dundee set the scene for their semi-final meeting with Aberdeen next weekend. Meanwhile, RB Leipzig are up next in the Champions League, presenting an opportunity to close in on quantifiable European progression.

Kilmarnock and Heart of Midlothian away are both difficult clashes to contend with after that, so there is plenty to look forward to for Celtic supporters in the coming weeks and months!