The jittery jobsworths at Bergamo city council slapped a booze ban on Celtic’s fans.
But it didn’t stop the travelling punters toasting a heroic performance as Brendan Rodgers and his boys banished their Borussia Dortmund demons. This superb Champions League point against one of the hottest outfits in Europe could be vital in their bid to reach the knockout stages.
But it was also redemption – and vindication – for Rodgers after getting battered in the wake of that 7-1 loss to Borussia. The Irishman proved he can change his approach… he can be pragmatic… he can get results away from home against the big boys.
Fair play to Rodgers. His team played a blinder but so did he. The tactics were spot-on – even before the game. Rodgers saying he wouldn’t change on the eve of the match and Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini saying he was quite right.
Turned out it was just a trap. Celtic’s set-up and approach was completely uncharacteristic – and it got the job done thanks to an epic shift from the players. Sure, they had to weather a few storms along the way but by the end the Italians had run out of ideas and were climbing up the Bergamo city walls. It might not have been a win but it sure felt like one.
And it also felt like Celtic rebuilt a reputation that was left in tatters in Germany. This was a seriously impressive result and performance against a seriously strong Atalanta side – in more ways than one.
The first things you notice about this lot in the flesh is the sheer size of them. It’s a team packed with hefty lumps and their man- to-man style means every Celtic player had a nightclub bouncer to contend with. They can play a bit as well.
Just ask Liverpool and Leverkusen, teams they scudded on the way to their Europa League triumph. Arsenal would say the same after they got out of dodge relieved to hang on to a point like Rodgers’ side did on Thursday night.
The physical battle was always going to be tough – so it was little wonder the Celtic boss added a bit of muscle by starting Adam Idah. It was also a sign Rodgers was going to tweak his style after all. Look, it was never going to be two banks and bang it up to the big man.
It’s just not in Rodgers’ DNA. But it was a ploy to be a bit more compact while going direct to avoid a rerun of the doing in Dortmund. And, unlike Germany, Celtic survived the opening 10 minutes here.
In fact, they arguably had the best opportunity when Nicolas Kuhn got in behind on the break but the wide man couldn’t quite maintain the charge to stick it away or square for Idah. There were other little sniffs as well, like Reo Hatate’s cheeky dig and Arne Engels forcing a save from a short corner.
A succession of increasingly hairy moments arose at the other end, though. Suffering comes with the territory in this unforgiving competition. You have to suck it up, dig in and ride your luck a little at times.
Celts were a tad fortunate when Mario Pasalic first thumped his header off the bar and later fired straight at Kasper Schmeichel. There was another let-off when Davide Zappacosta blasted over and almost all of these warnings came after Celtic had given the ball away at some stage.
Yet they were doing OK. Better than OK, in fact. Idah was doing a superb job of winning first balls, making flick-ons and generally giving his team a target. At the back, Auston Trusty and Liam Scales often had the look of sailors frantically trying to bucket water out of a sinking dinghy but they were just about managing to stay afloat.
It certainly wasn’t easy with Atalanta constantly whipping curling crosses into the box and the Hoops needed some heroic last- gasp defending to survive.
Alistair Johnston hurled himself in front of Ademola Lookman’s drive before Schmeichel beat away yet another header from Mateo Retegui to get in at the break on level terms.
Celtic took their time reappearing for the second half and you couldn’t blame them for wanting to eke out a few extra moments of peace. It was back into the breach soon after though when Scales had to cut out another dangerous Lookman ball.
Hoops attacks were so rare by that point, it felt like they’d need passports to get out of their own half. Yet they did stage the occasional dangerous trip up the pitch, like when Alex Valle forced Marco
Carnesecchi to divert his deflected drive over. A bombardment from wide areas continued, yet Scales and Trusty repelled it as the Italians were getting more and more frustrated. Any time they did get past the backline, Schmeichel was there to do the business behind them.
With Kyogo Furuhashi off the bench for the last quarter, all of a sudden the Serie A side had to worry about the wee man’s pace. He nicked in a couple of times and wasn’t a million miles off with a cute lob.
Atalanta kept hammering away but the Hoops simply refused to budge. Not even a lack of booze was going to take the edge off a sensational night for Celtic.