Callum McGregor: Atalanta draw proves Celtic have moved on from Dortmund mauling

Celtic captain Callum McGregor believes their Champions League shut-out in Italy proved they had well and truly moved on from their disappointment in Dortmund.

The Hoops got their Champions League campaign back on track with a goalless draw against Atalanta in Bergamo on Wednesday night.

McGregor saw no ill effects of that 7-1 defeat in Germany against a Borussia Dortmund side who went two goals up in the Bernabeu on Tuesday before conceding five in the second half against Real Madrid.

The midfielder said: “Probably everyone from the outside may be thinking that we didn’t have a chance after the Dortmund game, but we spoke about trying to do ourselves justice and putting in a proper performance, which we know we can do.

“We knew if we did that then we would be well in the game and that’s where we were.

“We had to defend obviously, with good numbers, everyone fighting for each other, and then try and pick our moments in terms of counter-attacking. Maybe with a wee bit more quality we could have got something more.”

As captain, McGregor knew there was a danger that the Dortmund result could have had a lasting impact if not properly addressed.

“You’ve got to be careful and there’s a train of thought that could happen, that after you take a heavy defeat you sort of speak your way through it and then when you get on to the pitch you’ve still got that fear a little bit from what happened previously,” he said.

“But that was totally gone. The performance was much more like we are and hopefully that was an off-night and a lot of things went against us that night.

“You can see even the competition this week, Dortmund lose five goals in one half as well and that’s just the level that you’re playing at, it punishes you so quickly.

“But to come here off the back of that, the players were so brave in terms of the work against the ball and then actually good spells with the ball as well. Just maybe that last little bit was missing, but hopefully that will come in time as well.”

Celtic now have four points from three games and have a home double-header to follow against RB Leipzig and Club Brugge, before taking on Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.

The clean sheet, achieved in the absence of established defenders Greg Taylor and Cameron Carter-Vickers, will give Celtic further confidence they can extend their involvement in the tournament beyond January, when they take on Young Boys and Aston Villa.

“I don’t think you can come to many tougher places against a tougher opponent really,” McGregor said.

“They (Atalanta) obviously won the Europa League last year, beat some big teams and were really strong and powerful and you know that when you see them up close and personal they’re all big, strong boys, they can all play football.

“So there’s not many teams that will test you as much as they tested us, so hopefully we can take big confidence from that and belief when the next game comes around, which we know will be another tough one as well.”Show less