Celtic are sitting top of the Scottish Premiership table and are hoping to put things right in the Champions League this week.
Callum McGregor will be leading the team out in Italy on Wednesday when they face Europa League champions, Atalanta.
This comes after Celtic’s dramatic 2-2 draw against Aberdeen at the weekend where the defensive issues reared their ugly head again.
Yes, Aberdeen deserve credit for attacking Celtic, but to let a two-lead slip in that manner is an issue, especially given that it’s without the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers.
From an attacking sense, you do wonder how the champions didn’t score more, especially given that they had 32 efforts at the opposition’s goal.
And it needs to be remembered that this is an Aberdeen side who went into the match with seven wins from seven and many questioning if they can become title challengers.
Callum McGregor looks forward to Celtic’s trip to Atalanta in the Champions League
The skipper was pretty calm and honest in his assessment after the match and he did seem to echo the manager’s words.
Rodgers claimed the Aberdeen draw ‘felt like a defeat’ and McGregor added that Celtic ‘ultimately lost the game’ during the window when they let the opposition come back into the game in the second half.
But McGregor was keen to look at the bigger picture and trying to put things right in the Champions League, as he told Celtic’s YouTube channel.
“The big thing for us is the manner we started the second half is slack and, at that point, you are in total control of the game,” said McGregor. “At 2-0 up, you have dominated the game, it could have maybe been three before half-time and then you are talking about a different story.
“But they come out and change it a little. They get a bit more threat on the top end of the pitch. They get a goal from that, a good pass and a good goal. We don’t really react in the way that we should. We give away a poor goal after that, then the game becomes difficult – we have to be disappointed with the outcome and the period of the game where we ultimately lost the game.
“We have to dust ourselves down and like you say a big game during the week. Disappointing in the sense of not taking all three points. But, in the grand scheme of things, where we are is fine and we will get the points back. Focus now changes to Wednesday.”
What Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini said about Celtic
Celtic’s morale-sapping defeat to Borussia Dortmund last time out will still be ringing in the ears of the fans and whether things will change for the trip to Italy.
Atalanta beat Venezia in the lead-up to the game, Gian Piero Gasperini spoke highly about Celtic and how they are a ‘fast’ team ‘used to winning championships’.
You feel the major talking point before and after this match will be more about the type of performance because if it’s a repeat of Dortmund, then fans will make their feelings pretty clear.
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