BATTERED, beaten and bruised, Brendan Rodgers watched as Celtic were demolished in Dortmund during an x-certificate performance as they nosedived to an embarrassing 7-1 thrashing in the Champions League.
The opening-day 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava was completely eclipsed as the team were completely outclassed and overrun by a rampant Borussia side who fired five behind Kasper Schmeichel before the turnaround.
Rodgers watched as his formation was shredded time and time again by the ruthless Bundesliga outfit went for the jugular right from the off.
Striker Karim Adeyemi thumped in a hat-trick, Emre Chan and Serhou Guirassy, both with penalty-kicks, added two others before half-time.
DOOM IN DORTMUND…a grim-faced Brendan Rodgers at the Westfalenstadion.
The only fleeting moment of consolation for the visitors in the sold-out 81,000 Westfalenstadion was an equaliser from Daizen Maeda in the seventh minute, but that was nullified within two minutes when Adeyemi claimed the first of his trio.
The Hoops were already staring at a horrible defeat before Guirassy and Flelix Nmecha added to the misery before the merciful blast from Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez’s final whistle.
Rodger admitted his players had been “punished”, but he vowed NOT to change his outlook as he plans for these testing challenges in Europe’s elite competition.
The Hoops gaffer said: “We’re really disappointed with the result. Performance-wise, I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game where virtually every mistake we got was punished and that’s the highest level of modern football.
“We could have been better with the ball, but going down 3-1 and 4-1 early seemed to spook us a little bit and we didn’t play with the same confidence and they were playing at a high level.
“The guys shows great spirit in the second-half and we had more possession of the ball and took greater risk, but, ultimately, we were beaten by a much better team.
“We will assess it and look back afterwards. We wanted to press the game, but we wanted to be balanced and be tight and compact. However, too many times when we ran out of position top players punished us.
“We’ll look at that for the coming games.”
ANXIOUS LOOKS…a pensive Brendan Rodgers watches Celtic struggle against Borussia Dortmund.
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “We got punished for giving the ball away. We needed longer spells with the game. We were too rushed. We know we have pace, but we had to have the ball for longer periods.
“We looked for that killer pass too early in their half and you are constantly giving the ball away and chasing it while their frontline is so direct and they have real quality and punished us.
“The big defeats have come against Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, PSG. We always have to adapt, but sometimes the quality breaks through that.
“Are we going to sit in and camp and wait? No, we won’t do that.
“We play a way that allows us to dominate domestically. We know it will be difficult to do that at times, but we still have to show our ability with the ball and we were nowhere near that level.
“We gave it away too easily. We concede two penalties and from a corner they scored an unbelievable goal. That can affect your confidence, but I was proud of the players second-half.
“We’re disappointed and it’s the first time we’ve had that feeling for a long time.”
WHISTLEBLOWER…Brendan Rodgers attempts to attract the attention of his players.
Rodgers added: “It was a really, really tough night for us.
“In the second-half, the guys showed good personality, showed courage to take the ball and to play. And, at least, showed spirit.
“But they were too good for us this evening.
“There are harsh lessons at this level, any misplaced passes, when your positioning is not quite right, you get punished.
“You saw there, a few short passes and they were away. So, for our players it’s a big learning and one that we need to take into the next games at this level.”
Next up for the champions is a trip to Italy to take on Europa League winners Atalanta on Wednesday October 25.
