Brendan Rodgers keen for Celtic to be compact and aggressive against Atalanta

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers feels their second-half lapse against Aberdeen is a reminder of the need to maintain aggression when they return to Champions League action on Wednesday.

Celtic led 2-0 at half-time but a wonderful through ball from Jamie McGrath set up Ester Sokler to net in the 50th minute and the Dons were level on the hour-mark when Graeme Shinnie scored a deflected goal following Daizen Maeda’s misplaced pass.

Rodgers felt Celtic had been careless and dropped off their press during that period of the 2-2 draw.

They now face Europa League winners Atalanta in Bergamo as they bid to show they have learned lessons from their 7-1 thrashing against Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

Rodgers dismissed questions about how much his side had missed Cameron Carter-Vickers, who remains a doubt with a toe injury.

When asked about the defence ahead of the Italian trip, he added: “Listen, you can always concede goals. It’s all down to looking at us in the press, and it’ll be a totally different game.

“Atalanta, having played them before and obviously seen them play, it’s a totally different game. They’re probably the best man-to-man marking team in world football, how they work.

“The football will be different, but we’ve already had that.

“If you’re not quite on it, and you’re not compact, and you’re not tight, and you’re not aggressive, you can get punished at the very highest level. But for us, we’re disappointed with the two goals.

“We showed a great reaction. We should win the game on chances and opportunities and the dominance that we had, but we didn’t.

“And you give credit to Aberdeen because they defended manfully, and especially during that last period.”

Aberdeen produced an emphatic response to their toughest test under Jimmy Thelin so far. The Swede brought on Sokler and Duk at half-time and got an extra edge from his players in terms of their pressing.

But, just like he has been after 13 consecutive wins, the Dons manager downplayed the long-term significance of the result and performance.

“It’s one game and we have to focus on game by game,” he said. “And let’s see, when we talk in May, let’s see where we are.

“We have a strong belief in what we do. The fighting spirit is inside the team, that’s what we have to take from this game, that we also find a way back against Celtic, it’s really difficult to come back to.

“Now we have to take this point and go back to Aberdeen and refocus on the next game.”