James McFadden puts BBC man straight for picking holes in Celtic’s draw vs Atalanta with Arsenal reminder

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Celtic’s draw against Atalanta was the club’s first-ever point earned against Serie A opposition in the Champions League.

Serious questions were being asked of the Celtic boss and his ability to take his team to one of Europe’s best teams and get a positive result in the Champions League this season.

After Celtic’s heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta posed a similar test for Rodgers and the Irishman and his Bhoys passed it with flying colours.

But it seems that the result was being played down on BBC Radio Scotland which prompted James McFadden to defend Celtic’s achievement in Bergamo.

McFadden defends Celtic and rejects Atalanta comparison to Dortmund

Speaking post-match, Richard Gordon, whilst recognising Atalanta is a good side, seemed to try and play down the result by claiming that the Italians are not as good as Borussia Dortmund and it led to this discussion.

McFadden: “Rich, I know you’re saying they’re nowhere near Dortmund but Arsenal came here and put in a defensive display but for a world-class save from Raya, Atalanta would have got the victory.

“So they’re still a good side, and I think we’re always guilty of this. We did it with Slovan Bratislava, ‘Oh well they must not be very good.”

Gordon: “I did say Atalanta is a very good team. I just don’t think they’re quite at the level of Dortmund.”

McFadden: “I know you’re not trying to diminish it, but I think sometimes we do look at it and say, ‘Well, it was a great display, but maybe they’re not at that level’.

“Atlanta went and won 3-0 at Liverpool last season, and they are a very good side. They beat Bayer Leverkusen as well.”

James McFadden talks up Celtic’s ‘great display’ vs Atalanta

“This is the beauty of the new format,” continued McFadden, “They’re not going to play against the same team, so you don’t really know where teams are, but I think you’ve got to just enjoy the performance.

“And the fact that they’ve come in for a lot of criticism about how they approach these games, particularly their away games against the big teams, and they’ve come away with a result.

“It’s been a great display. And people might look at it and say, go they rode their luck or whatever else, but they defended well.

“That was some effort they put in.”

Any result Celtic can get against a Serie A team in Italy in UEFA’s flagship tournament should be praised. No matter how they did it.

For too long Rodgers and his team have been criticised for their Champions League results and for being heavily beaten by Europe’s elite clubs.

So it is quite bizarre that on a night when Celtic achieve a great result someone from the broadcast media tries to pick holes in it when the Parkhead club should be getting praised.