Brendan Rodgers admits Celtic defeat to Borussia Dortmund was 'a tough watch'

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admitted his side’s 7-1 thumping at the hands of Borussia Dortmund was painful to see, and he said his side were punished for every mistake on a miserable night of Champions League football.

Dortmund took the lead from the penalty spot when Emre Can scored after seven minutes and though Daizen Maeda scored a quickfire equaliser, the hosts went on to score freely.

Karim Adeyemi netted a hat-trick, while Serhou Guirassy grabbed two goals and Felix Nmecha rounded off the scoring, with Celtic struggling to impose their own game on Dortmund or contain the pacy attack.

“It was a tough watch, to be honest,” Rodgers said. “We weren’t quite at our best.

“They showed why they are a top, top team. We didn’t make the start we wanted.

“I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game where every mistake got punished. That’s the level.

“Any misplaced pass or moment that they had seemed to end up in the back of the net. And on the other side, the couple of moments we had in the second half didn’t fall for us.

“At this level, especially away from home against a top team, you need to be at your highest level. We weren’t that and they were. You could see the quality that they have.”

Several of the Dortmund goals came from slack passes or Celtic being caught in possession while trying to play out and the manager said that lessons had to be learned. Rodgers felt his side weren’t at their technical best and also got their positioning wrong too often.

“That’s the learning that comes away from this level,” he said. “We got spooked early on. We get to 1-1, which is good but then very quickly we go 2-1 behind and they get a foothold in the game, start to move it around and we have to chase it.

“It was a mixture of our positioning but also our quality in our passing, where short or the wrong pass or the touch wasn’t right. We just didn’t play a good game on a technical level.”

The Scottish champions went into the game in strong form, having won every game this season and looking good at both ends of the pitch. Rodgers felt Dortmund were of “a different level” and he admitted he will have to “inspire” his players again after a bruising experience.

“We went in high in confidence because we had been playing ever so well,” the manager added. “We felt we were in a really good place.

“We had to start much better than we did, as we gave away really cheap goals.

“If you analyse the game, there’s positions we would have to be have been better in and we got punished for loose bits of play and passes. They will punish you and they were ruthless in their finishing. It was incredible to see.

“It’s very difficult for us to get to that level. It’s a different level, with the greatest respect. We want to be more competitive, that’s what was disappointing from our perspective.

“My job is to go away and inspire the players again. We need to learn from it or we will get punished at this level.”