Confident Celtic group not going to let Dortmund defeat wobble us says AJ

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The Celtic Star

·3 October 2024

Confident Celtic group not going to let Dortmund defeat wobble us says AJ

Alistair Johnston admitted that Celtic’s Signal Iduna Park experience was a humbling one but vows that his teammates will recover from it…

Borussia Dortmund vs Celtic Glasgow, Champions League, Matchday 2, 01 10 2024 Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia.Photo kolbert-press/Marc Niemeyer

A powderpuff first-half display from Brendan Rodgers side saw them go 5-1 down after the first 45. Celtic never seemed to assert any control in the match with last season’s Champions League finalists peppering Kasper Schmeichel’s goal countless times throughout the game.

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Despite the humiliating defeat, Celtic sit 20th in the revamped Champions League format, crucially placing themselves in the top 24 after two rounds of matches. Whether we remain in there post-Bergamo is another story but Celtic must lick their wounds.

Assessing the sore defeat Alistair Johnston outlined via STV News. “Yeah of course, you don’t want to lose in the first place, but conceding seven is never fun. I mean, we’re not used to losing, obviously and that’s a pretty humbling experience.

“At the same time, it is one of the top teams in Europe and the Champions League finalists from last year and we knew it was going to be a difficult game. We’ve got to take things from it, I think we’ll watch it back, be honest with ourselves, that’s what’s really good about this group and the coaching staff is that we’re honest, and we’ve got to build on that.”

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Since Johnston’s arrival in early 2023, the Canadian has featured in Celtic’s last four Champions League away games. Losing in all four whilst conceding 17 in the process, there is a realisation that collectively things must significantly change. “We’ve got to understand what we did wrong and what they punished us with, and what we did right, and there aren’t as many things that we did right in this match, unfortunately.

The 25 year-old continued: “At the same time, there will be little things, little moments where, okay, what’s the little kind of change that we need to do in terms of being most brave in positioning, being more compact defensively and things like that, we’ll get it sorted.

“It’s a really confident group that we have here, we’re not going to let that wobble us at all. We’ve got to build on it and understand it happens, but it can’t happen again, that’s what the Champions League is all about.

Conor Spence

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