Brendan Rodgers 'so, so happy' with Champions League position after Atalanta draw

Brendan Rodgers praised his Celtic side for their performance against Atalanta and said he was more than happy with their Champions League points return so far.

Having thumped Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in their League Phase opener, the Scottish champions were then on the end of a sobering 7-1 defeat away to Borussia Dortmund.

That set up another challenging away match against Atalanta in Bergamo and Celtic put in a battling performance on Wednesday evening, securing a 0-0 draw.

Rodgers felt his players showed their mettle in a hard-fought match, shutting out an attack that has found goals easy to come by in Serie A in recent times. And the Celtic boss reflected on the campaign so far and said the club could be happy with four points so far.

“The concentration in the game was superb,” Rodgers said. “You’re talking about the highest goalscorers in Italian football. The players showed great courage.

“It was a really good point for us. I never doubted the players and their mentality. I was so proud of them.

“If you look at our opening three games, to have four points, I’m so, so happy with that.

“It gives them the confidence that you can defend against a top team. I’m not sure whether that was pragmatic enough for some people.

“You’re never comfortable until the final whistle goes especially against a top team. Sometimes the luck goes against a Scottish team but we defended manfully and stood up to be counted.”

Rodgers saw progress from the last away game, where Celtic were punished by a ruthless Dortmund side, and he said he saw “dignity” in the way the team went about their business.

“I mentioned before that sometimes games like that are great games to learn from,” he said. “If you look at Borussia Dortmund (against Real Madrid on Tuesday) night, they conceded five goals in the second half. It’s just the level.

“I never doubted the players and the mentality. We responded straight after that game and won our next game. Then we come away to a team that are, so, so efficient going forward with the quality they have, the power that they have.

“For our players to concentrate, stand up and fight and have that dignity in the performance, I was so proud of them.”