“We’re not here just to be a support act,” Brendan Rodgers had said but this time Celtic were not even that good and in all probability they will not be here at all for much longer, slipping off the European bill entirely. A 6-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid not only leaves them virtually out of the Champions League, it has them bottom of Group E on a single point, little chance now of even dropping into the Europa League. Nor was it just the figures, it was the way this felt; two goals each from Antoine Griezmann and Álvaro Morata, plus one apiece for the substitutes Samuel Lino and Saúl Ñíguez, a shot count that read 27-1 underlining a huge gulf between these sides.
If the Celtic coach had been entitled to claim that his team deserved more than the point with which they arrived in Madrid, that they had their moments against Feyenoord, Atlético and Lazio and had surprised opponents with the “quality and intensity” of their football; if, in short, they had competed in their opening three games, here they did not. A superb Atlético side never let them. Nor it must be said, did they help themselves. According to Rodgers, a still image on a screen did not either, VAR claiming another victim.
