The Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers insisted his side proved they can compete at Champions League level by sending Atletico Madrid back to Spain knowing they had been given a serious test in Glasgow.
The Scottish champions got their first point of the campaign although they remain bottom of Group E and have still to win a match in the competition since 2017, or since 2013 at home. They contributed hugely in an exciting and intense 2-2 draw at Parkhead, twice leading the La Liga giants who equalised twice but finished the match with ten men when Argentine World Cup winner Rodrigo De Paul got a second booking eight minutes from time. Feyenoord beat Lazio and lead the group on six points to Atletico’s five, with Lazio on four and Celtic one.
Kyogo Furuhashi and Luis Palma both put Celtic ahead and an Antoine Griezmann penalty and an Alvaro Morata header levelled things for Atletico in front of a charged 60,000 crowd. Rodgers was thrilled with his team’s display after the defeats to at Feyenoord and at home to Lazio.
• Celtic twice blow lead as Atletico leave with a point
“The football was great. Both goals were very, very good,” he said. “The players will take that confidence. They are just going to get better and better at this level. I am pleased with the result because we needed to get some points on the board.
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“I think it’s showing that we are competitive and that we can develop. We know the levels we are up against and the quality of teams. But I don’t think you can say they’ll fly back to Spain not knowing that they had a really tough game against a team that gave everything.
“I thought it was a terrific performance, especially the first 45 minutes, the quality of our football, the speed of our pressing, the speed in our game – it was everything that we would want.” Rodgers felt it “very harsh” that Greg Taylor was judged to have fouled Nahuel Molina and desperately unlucky for Joe Hart that his save, on to the post, rebounded to Griezmann to score at the second attempt. But Palma’s goal came only three minutes later. “The reaction was superb and everything I wanted in terms of playing together, pressing with intensity and having the courage and bravery to play. We kept fighting and we showed that we could really compete with a top level team.”
Celtic’s first half intensity caught up with them later in the game. “There’s a bit of tiredness that comes in the last 20 minutes because we’re not used to playing at that tempo against that level of opponent. It’s a balance. It’s intense, the pressing and playing the football you want to play. But you have to be organised within that, you are playing outstanding teams. You will always have critics. People throw stats at you. It doesn’t really bother me, my only focus and worry is having this team and this club competitive at this level which is a really, really high level.”
Reo Hatate came off in obvious distress in the opening minutes and may be out for some time. “It’s too early to say,” said Rodgers. “It looked like it was a hamstring. We will see how that is.”
Before kick-off tens of thousands of Celtic fans waved small Palestinian flags, in defiance of the club’s pre-match request to not show any flags or banners relating to the Israel-Hamas war. A Uefa fine is inevitable but Rodgers would not discuss the issue. When asked if he had any view the manager said: “Nothing. I am only thinking about the football.” Pressed on whether he worried about any Uefa repercussions he replied: “I am [only] worried about the football.”
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Atletico were held to a draw after six consecutive wins. “Our opposition played well today and we played extremely well in the second half,” said coach Diego Simeone. “I wasn’t surprised at all [by Celtic]. I saw how well they played against Feyenoord and Lazio at the start of those games and they showed that again. In the second half they ran out of ideas a bit but I was impressed by their dynamism and ability to move the ball forward and create chances.”
