Celtic saved their first Champions League clear sheet for seven years as they held Europa League champions Atalanta to a goalless attract Bergamo.
Brendan Rodgers set his workforce as much as defend deep, eager to keep away from a repeat of the 7-1 thrashing at Borussia Dortmund of their final European outing, and was defiant after his aspect produced the proper response.
“It gives them the confidence that they can defend against a top team,” the Celtic boss mentioned after the sport.
“I’m not sure whether that was pragmatic enough for people. I don’t know, but we go out in every game to be structured and defend well.”
The sport may have resulted in in another way had Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic been extra medical.
Pasalic missed 5 massive possibilities, a feat solely 4 different gamers had managed within the Champions League for the reason that 2010/11 season, 4 of these coming within the first half. The midfielder hit the goal simply as soon as from his six efforts on purpose.
Celtic have been extra comfy within the second half, regardless of ceding much more possession to their hosts, largely as a result of they stopped the movement of crosses from former Chelsea wing-back Davide Zappacosta, who created all his 4 possibilities within the first half.
Rodgers’ aspect at the moment are on 4 factors after three video games within the Champions League, which pushes them additional away from the elimination locations, whereas Atalanta have 5 factors on the finish of gameweek three, sitting simply shy of computerized qualification.
Rodgers solutions critics with massive defensive show
Celtic had not saved a clear sheet within the Champions League since beating Anderlecht 3-0 within the group phases in 2017. It took a humbling by the hands of Dortmund to get them there.
Rodgers, who additionally oversaw that victory seven years in the past, insisted earlier than the sport that Celtic’s devastating defeat was the results of a number of early objectives “spooking” his gamers. There was a way that the criticism, and options of naivety, had angered him.
Celtic realized their classes and took a extra sensible method in Italy, decreasing their risk-taking within the build-up by beginning Adam Idah up entrance, and enjoying a extra direct model of soccer.
Kasper Schmeichel performed his half, turning into the primary Celtic goalkeeper to make six saves and preserve a clear sheet within the competitors since 2003/04, whereas Auston Trusty was firm on the again, making 10 headed clearances to maintain Atalanta out.
Celtic’s gamers salute the travelling assist after seeing out a goalless draw
The response from Celtic has greater than answered their critics and earned them an enormous level within the context of preserving their hopes of Champions League development alive. Again-to-back residence video games towards RB Leipzig and Membership Bruges await.
Atalanta’s profligacy was, after all, partly behind Celtic preserving a clear sheet, however the Hoops labored for his or her luck in Italy.
Rodgers: Was that pragmatic sufficient?
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers:
“It gives them the confidence that they can defend against a top team.
“I am undecided whether or not that was pragmatic sufficient for individuals. I do not know, however we exit in each sport to be structured and defend effectively.
“You know you’re going to get pushed back. But I think the confidence that it gives you when you can defend against the very best teams, that level and that concentration, then it will give them a huge boost.
“The focus within the sport was very good and it’s essential have it with the expertise that they’ve, you are speaking concerning the highest goalscorers in Italian soccer.
“So to come here, play with that concentration, that commitment and still carry a threat when we had the ball was very, very pleasing. The players showed great courage, concentrated on what it is they had to do, defend the box well, shift, slide and it was a really, really good point for us.”
Trusty: We confirmed the world what we will do
Celtic defender Auston Trusty:
“Dortmund was just one of those games. The beauty of football is that there’s always another game, you can react and show the world what team you really are.
“Generally you simply have these nights, and clearly that is an evening we might by no means wish to see once more or really feel once more. That put a pit in our stomachs, so we needed to come back out right here and present the world what we will do and how much workforce we actually are.
“If they want to cross the ball, then I love heading the ball and being in a position to win tackles and also make any defensive play I can,” he mentioned.
“So however they want to play, I adjust to it and I do my thing.
“Taking part in final 12 months within the Premier League, I noticed it as the perfect league in all the world.
“So I’m used to these situations and I think I can bring a lot of expertise to this squad and to this organisation where I can be a leader in the team, be a leader on the pitch and off the pitch.”
Match stats: A giant night time for Celtic
- Atalanta tonight turned simply the second workforce on report within the UEFA Champions League (2008-09 onwards) to have 20+ photographs and 50+ touches within the opposition field and never rating a purpose, together with Paris Saint-Germain towards Borussia Dortmund in final season’s semi-final second leg.
- Tonight’s goalless draw has ended a run of 85 consecutive video games in main European matches with out a 0-0 for Celtic, with their final 0-0 draw coming towards Benfica again in September 2012 in a UEFA Champions League match.
- Celtic have saved a UEFA Champions League clear sheet for the primary time since September 2017 in a 3-0 win over Anderlecht, ending a run of 18 video games with out one through which they shipped 51 objectives.
- Mario Pasalic had six photographs with out scoring for Atalanta tonight, the joint most by an Atalanta participant in a UEFA Champions League match with out discovering the web, together with Duván Zapata towards FC Midtjylland in December 2020.
