Jamie Gittens admits Dortmund found it “easy” to cut through Celtic after they figured out the Scottish champions’ approach.
Brendan Rodgers sent his side out to press Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park and for the first ten minutes, looked like they were going to make a real game of after Daizen Maeda cancelled out Emre Can’s early penalty. But the floodgates opened after hat-trick hero Karim Adeyemi quickly restored BVB’s lead and the hosts hosed the Hoops 7-1 in the end, with five of those goals coming in a chaotic first half.
Gittens found Celtic’s start to the game intense, but then Nuri Sahin’s side had a simple task after going 2-1 ahead and began exploiting the wide open spaces Rodgers’ side were leaving. It was a harsh lesson than probably should have been learned by now after similar defeats to Barcelona, Paris-SG and Atletico Madrid, and Gittens was as open as Tuesday night’s opponents with his assessment of how Dortmund were able to turn the screw so savagely.
“It was a very enjoyable game,” he told TNT Sports. “They played really intense to defend us with the high press but after the first two goals it was quite easy to cut through in a way, so it was a good game.”
Asked if he was surprised by Celtic’s tactics and how open they made the game, Gittens replied: “Yeah, they wanted to high press us and they did a good job in the first ten minutes. But after that we played better football and started to pop it around at the back and into pockets and spaces then got the goal.”
Dortmund secured their biggest European win in 59 years and their highest-ever Champions League win against Celtic. And club legend and current advisor Matthias Sammer reckons they have now set the standards for the rest of the competition.
It was BVB’s biggest Champions League win and their best European win since an 8-0 romp against Maltese minnows Floriana in 1965.
But Sammer – who also managed the club to a Bundesliga title – has insisted they have to keep that level of performance up in every match.
He pointed out: “A game like this sets standards. We can allow ourselves to be happy and enjoy the win. But the question I want to know is can we play to this standard against Union Berlin at the weekend?
“We have now shown what we can do and how good we can be, but we need to do this every week. There are no excuses. The players have shown how good they can be.”
Rodgers’ Celtic sides have now conceded an average of almost three goals a game in the Champions League in 20 matches. And while his domestic record is almost impeccable, this latest disaster in Germany added to his miserable record in the tournament.
The defeat was his 20th game of charge of the Hoops in the group stages and Celtic have now conceded a whopping 57 goals. His Celtic side have now conceded an average of 2.85 goals with Rodgers in his fourth campaign.
Celtic conceded 16 goals in his first attempts in 2016/17, 18 goals a year later and 15 last year. They’ve already conceded eight so far this term. Rodgers teams have so far netted 21 goals and their victory against Slovan Bratislava was just their third win under his stewardship.
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