One of the quirks of this season’s Champions League campaign for Celtic is that they are featured on BBC One’s flagship football show Match Of The Day.
The broadcaster won the rights to show highlights of Europe’s premier tournament, and on matchday one, we were treated to Joe Hart’s analysis as he waxed lyrical about Slovan Bratsilava’s demolition.
Thankfully, on Wednesday night, there was no great inquest on the 7-1 defeat to Dortmund from the panel that included presenter Mark Chapman, former German international Thomas Hitzlsperger, former Man City star Nedum Onuoha and journalist Rory Smith of The New York Times.
In fact, they were rather upbeat about Celtic’s general outlook in the Champions League, feeling that the Scottish champions still have a big chance of progressing in the tournament.
Celtic told not to ‘panic’ after Dortmund disaster
Onuoha said: “I am saying don’t panic. I think most people who have played the game have had some of those games where things just go wrong.
“As we’ve seen from some of the goals there, there were some really good finishes from places people ordinarily wouldn’t score from.
“From a data standpoint, Brendan Rodgers will look at that game and know that his team weren’t that bad.
“To concede seven is obviously still kind of alarming, but if it were seven one-vs-ones or a tonne of tap-ins, for Celtic, that wasn’t the case, and I’m sure Rodgers will be able to push that aside and go again.”
That assessment from Onuoha has an element of truth. It was a stinging, bruising night, but Dortmund scored a fair few wonder goals from distance.
Celtic were lacklustre and poor, consistently making unforced errors. But it wasn’t the Germans’ chance creation in the box that blew away the visitors.
Celtic still well in the hunt for Champions League progression
Smith added on hopes for the Bhoys moving forward: “They’ll look at Dinamo Zagreb, they’ll look at Young Boys, Villa is difficult. They’ll even look at RB Leipzig at home, a big night at Celtic Park.
“Celtic don’t need to win every game to qualify, they need to get ten or 12 points, regardless of the disappointment of Tuesday night.”
Presenter Chapman then reiterated the percentage probabilities that various point scenarios give a team. Finish with nine points, and there’s a 69% chance of going through in the top 24, which shoots up to 99% with ten points.
That’s still the big picture for Rodgers’ side. We can hopefully move on swiftly from what was a bad night and retain confidence for the challenges ahead.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
