KIERAN TIERNEY insists Celtic will learn a tough lesson after Tuesday’s Champions League slup against Paris saint-Germain.
The 20-year-old Scotland international defender admits he picked up a few hints from Dani Alves who can boast three Champions Leagues, four Super Cups, two UEFA Cups, 19 domestic honours and 102 caps for Brazil.
Tierney said: “It was a learning curve and we’ll need to be better next time. The one thing I’ll take away more than anything else is that PSG don’t waste a ball.
“If it’s a high ball, we’d maybe look to get it clear, but they’ll bring it down on the chest and play it. Look at Alves.
“There’ll be a ball over the top and he’s close to me, but he’s comfortable about taking the ball on his chest and passing it.
“If we pressed them, their one and two-touch play was unbelievable. You think you’re going to nick it. but they’ve touched it away and are on the break again.
”Kylian Mbappe’s so quick. You reckon you know what he’s going to do, but you just can’t get to him. That’s why they paid so much money for someone so young.
“But we need to learn from it and, hopefully, we will.
“They had to put a marker down, to be fair, with the money they’ve spent and the
pressure that’s on them.
“But we must pick ourselves up fast because there are games to face in Scotland as well as in Europe. We can’t afford to be down for too long.
“We had a poor start last year in Barcelona, but bounced back with a good result against Manchester City. We need to aim for the same again.
“Anderlecht are a great team, too, so it is going to be tough. There are no easy games, especially when you’re in Pot Four.
”You’re up against the best front three in the world, but the first-half from us wasn’t good enough.
“You saw in the second-half, even though the two sucker punch goals killed it, that we got higher and were more in their faces.
“It’s hard to pinpoint what went wrong early on. It’s not something we meant to do, we just didn’t play our best.
“Then in the second-half, we got better. We had half-an-hour when we were in it, then we tired and they got the two quick goals.
“Tuesday night was a tough ask, but we know we need to get better.
“It’s hard to come and play against arguably the best and definitely the most expensive team in the world, even more so when it’s your first group game and you haven’t had time to settle in.
“You don’t get those chances at this level, you need to do it from the word go because. Once they scored it was always going to be hard to get back in the game.
“And credit to our supporters – they kept going for 90 minutes and never let the atmosphere drop.”
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