Celtic winger Nicolas Kuhn has shared a brilliant inside joke he has going with fellow right-sided player Alistair Johnston.

The duo shut out Atalanta’s left-hand side in Wednesday’s impressive draw with the Serie A outfit. The Hoops were sturdy defensively, with everyone putting in a respectable shift to help take a point home from Italy.

Kuhn and Johnston combined well on Celtic’s right side, and in this campaign, they have begun to muster a congenial partnership.

Whether in attack, such as against Ross County for a late winner or versus Atalanta, when they worked well together at the back, the pair are developing alongside each other game by game.

Midweek, after the Bhoys secured a useful point on the road in the Champions League, Johnston and Kuhn joked that the German would soon be the Hoops’ new right-back after all the defensive work he carried out.

“We had to defend really deep,” said Kuhn (Glasgow Times).

“We’ve had a bit of fun already between me and Ali [Johnston], that I’m the new right-back! There was a lot of defensive work but we had to do that and I think we did well.

“From the beginning it was clear that, especially Daizen and I, we had to help out, because they overloaded the side with three, sometimes four players.”

Kuhn and Maeda were key in tracking back and helping their respective fullbacks shut out Atalanta’s continual threat in the wide areas.

Both attackers and the team, in general, showed a different, more defensively solid side to their game, which isn’t usually on display versus elite European sides.

Wednesday proved that Brendan Rodgers eventually learned his lesson, as the Celts were willing to absorb pressure and frustrate their opponents while waiting to strike on the break clinically.

Such an approach now has to be the hallmark going forward when the Scottish champions play elite teams away from home in Europe.