Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted he partly expected his side to be slightly off it in their 2-2 draw with Aberdeen yesterday.
Despite leading 2-0 at the break, the Hoops were pegged back as a spirited Dons side gave a terrific account of themselves in an action-packed afternoon at Parkhead.
Reo Hatate opened the scoring 24 minutes in with a lovely first-time finish before his fellow countryman Kyogo Furuhashi doubled the Bhoys’ advantage before the half-hour mark.
Celtic got complacent in the second 45, though, and Aberdeen found themselves level by 60 minutes.
Despite piling utmost pressure on the opposition goal in the dying embers, the Premiership champions couldn’t find a winner on a difficult afternoon.
Post-match, boss Rodgers admitted that he knew his team wouldn’t be at their fittest and firing best on Saturday.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect today, coming on the back of all the guys travelling all the way around the world and coming back in,” he said (MailSport).
“But I would expect us to see that game through.
“At the same time, it’s not often a team comes here, especially when they’re 2-0 down at half-time and they come back out having made such positive changes and they really try to make a positive impact on your guys.
“I think you have to give credit to Aberdeen because they were 2-0 down and we were the dominant team in the game.
“I think for Aberdeen, it’s a really good point. For us, we’re obviously disappointed with the result.”
When Celtic returned after the first international break of the season, they looked rather disjointed against Hearts, but they pulled through and secured a 2-0 win. That should have been the case yesterday.
Instead, some lapses in defensive concentration caused the Bhoys to capitulate and drop two important league points.
Bouncing back midweek against Atalanta will be hugely difficult. The Bergamo side won the Europa League last term and have scored eight goals in their last two matches against Shakhtar Donetsk and Genoa.
Celtic have only won on Italian soil once; the spirit of Olivier Ntcham’s late dink in 2019 will need to be recaptured on Wednesday if the Hoops are to secure a memorable Champions League night.
