Owen Hargreaves and Martin Keown respond to what Brendan Rodgers said about Celtic’s Champions League tactics

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The Champions League fallout over Celtic’s humbling at Borussia Dortmund continues and is likely to do so throughout the day.

As the Celtic fans still try to comprehend the defeat, pundits and former players are already having their say over the 7-1 humbling in Germany.

Speaking post-match, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers admitted that whilst he will look to adapt Celtic’s approach, he will not allow his team to sit in and pull up the shutters even after shipping seven goals to Dortmund.

And upon hearing this former Man United midfielder, Owen Hargreaves and ex-Arsenal defender, Martin Keown, offered the Celtic boss some sound advice ahead of the upcoming fixture against Atalanta.

Hargreaves: Celtic have ‘got to adjust’ for Champions League

Analysing Rodgers’ comments, Hargreaves admits that whilst Celtic are ‘brilliant’ domestically, the Parkhead club simply cannot go ‘toe to toe’ with Europe’s big guns.

Hargreaves told TNT Sports, “The thing is, they’re so dominant in the league, I don’t think they’ve conceded a goal yet in the league. So they’re brilliant there.

“Then they come up against a team like Dortmund who are quick and explosive and then give away two penalties and three goals from their own build-up. So if you make mistakes like that in a game like this, you’re going to get punished.

“I think the question was fair, are you going to change anything? But, you know, he’s saying we’re playing top teams, we’re playing Barcelona, we’re playing Real Madrid and they can hurt you.

“But I do think at some point, you see Mikel [Arteta] do it with Arsenal, I think there’s nothing wrong with having a different look at times, to be honest.

Keown: Celtic ‘can’t pretend’ on Champions League difference

Keown, who was a Cup Winners Cup winner with Arsenal in 1994, has told Rodgers that he ‘can’t pretend’ that there is a big difference in quality between Celtic and the cream of Europe.

Keown replied, “You can’t go toe to toe, can you against some of these European greats? They played in the final of the Champions League last year. You’ve got to adjust.

“You can’t pretend that there’s not a difference between quality between you and your opponent, and that’s what happened tonight.

“Three wins could be enough [to qualify] they’ve got one win. He did also say about learning from it. And let’s see what they do then the next time out.”

Until Rodgers can stop recording these kinds of results in Europe, the Celtic boss will have to contend with being told what seems like some harsh home truths.

Listen, Dortmund are levels above Celtic and a result like this can happen to any team in Europe but the problem Rodgers has is that it’s happened too many times on his watch.

And until that changes then the Celtic boss is going to have to find some other way to get a result against the big teams in Europe other than using the same approach that was applied in Germany last night.