Celtic picked up a priceless point in Italy on Wednesday night but Callum McGregor knew it was just as important to make one as well.
The Hoops were badly wounded by that infamous evening on the Rhine a few weeks ago. They headed to Dortmund bursting with hope and enthusiasm – convinced they were about to finally give one of the big boys a bloody nose. Instead they ended up flat on their faces. Borussia were ruthless and the seven-goal savaging left Celts severely embarrassed.
McGregor knew it was a bad night. But he always felt it wasn’t a true reflection of this Celtic side. He was also well aware they had to prove it against Atalanta and the battered pride needed to be restored. The Hoops rebuilt their reputations with a superb defensive display in Bergamo and the skipper admitted it was exactly what they needed. McGregor said: “When you represent such a big club like this and you have a result like that, it hurts and it stays with you and all these things where you feel pride to try to put it right for yourself and your teammates and then the supporters as well.
“We came out the back of that game and we never showed ourselves in a good light but it was important against Atalanta that we showed we don’t want to talk, we want to be a team that does the talking on the pitch. It was hugely important, I think. Probably more for ourselves, to be honest. People say what they want to write and we don’t really have a lot of control over that other than the performances that we put in.
“If you don’t perform well, people are going to criticise you, that’s just the nature of the business. But for us we came off the game against Dortmund and we just never did ourselves justice. The boys were low and they were low because they didn’t perform to the level that we know we can.
“It can be a difficult one, on the back of that one. Maybe you think you’ve got it out of your system and the game starts and maybe you think, right hold on we’re in a game again. But I actually thought the boys dealt with that really really well, showed big character, big belief, physicality as well which is something that’s really important at this level.”
That physicality aspect was crucial. McGregor admitted he was taken aback by the sheer size of the Atalanta side. It was land of the giants stuff, with even their wide players strapping 6ft plus monsters.
Celtic stood up to it though. It was no mean feat given the Serie A side’s attacking man-to-man style. Their game plan is to match up against rivals and make it a survival of the strongest. More often than not, they are the ones who come out on top in those individual battles.
That was also often the case the other night but Celtic won their fair share and when it came to the crunch in the final third, centre backs Auston Trusty and Liam Scales heroically held firm. Brendan Rodgers’ gameplan allowed Atalanta some wriggle room in the wide areas and then kept a narrow, compact defensive line to deal with the crosses.
Despite a few rough moments in the first half, it was a tactic that worked a treat. McGregor said: “So to stand up to that challenge against a team who were massive, by the way, Europa League winners last season and they have the top goal scorer in Serie A – you won’t play against many teams that test you physically as much as what they will.
“The game can become random at times just due to the nature of that. But then you’ve got to win your duels and you’ve got to win your battles and I thought the boys did that brilliantly.
“Obviously they had moments and they started to load up the side of the pitch which can be difficult in those 3v3 or 3v2 situations and you’ve got to defend that, and then when it comes in the box, I thought the two boys at the back were superb – they won pretty much everything.
“You’ve just got to defend in different areas, but it was working and there was a little bit of frustration from them then they started chipping things in and we were fairly comfortable in that. The game plan definitely worked and credit to the boys that stuck with that and we grew as the game went on.”
Pride, points, pats on the back, it was all positive for the Parkhead men in Italy. But perhaps the biggest plus for the Hoops was the proof they can adapt, can switch systems or approach and be competitive in different kinds of ways at this level.
Celtic have come through two tough away games and although Dortmund was an ordeal, they now have a point more than was perhaps expected, along with the belief they can be flexible enough to deal with what comes next.
McGregor said: “Of course, this is where you want to be, this is where you want to play your football and be testing yourself to the limit against these guys (Atalanta) and Dortmund and Leipzig and all these other teams.
“That’s where you want to be as a footballer and when you come away from games and you’ve got a result and you’ve played well then you feel good about yourself and the flip side when it doesn’t go so well.”