Atletico Madrid produced a vintage performance against Celtic as they won 6-0 in the Group E Champions League game on Tuesday (7 November).
The Hoops conceded an early goal from Antoine Griezmann insider 6 minutes and from there on it looked like an uphill battle. Celtic then lost Daizen Maeda in the 23rd minute who was sent off after a booking was reassessed via the monitor.
After that, it was complete domination by the La Liga giants, and the Spanish press covered the victory by praising the home side. Celtic were brilliant in their previous Champions League game, but on this occasion, they have been really poor.
Spanish newspaper AS has described the Bhoys as “battered” and “broken” (page 10), while Mundo Deportivo described them as “away ghosts” (page 14).
Bottom
It was always going to be a difficult task for Celtic to get a positive result away from home and against a top-quality side, but to go down to 10 men inside half an hour made the job almost next to impossible.
However, we have seen in the past that teams can frustrate the opponents by staying resolute at the back and waiting for the right opportunity to score but Celtic showed no such grit and determination to prevent Atletico forwards from scoring.
With this victory, Atletico now sit at the top of the table in Group E while Celtic are at the bottom with just one point. Popular football pundit Jamie O’Hara has questioned whether the Hoops are actually improving by playing in the Champions League as he described it as a “pathetic viewing”.
Celtic started the game strongly but there is no denying that the harsh red card has played a massive part. The Bhoys now need to win their next two games in this competition but it won’t be easy.
