Everything Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said to TNT Sports after his side's 0-0 draw with Atalanta...
Celtic’s first clean sheet away from home in the Champions League in seven years. How did that feel?
Yeah, it felt great. We said before the game we knew the level that we were playing against. We're playing against a team that has the highest goal scores in Italian football and is one of the favourites for this competition. I thought the courage, the dignity of what the players played with to stand up to the fight and right to the very end. So to come here and keep a clean sheet, it was a brilliant defensive performance.
I know we've spoken an awful lot about lessons learned. Calum McGregor spoke about it after the game in Dortmund. What have you seen tonight and what was different from that game against Dortmund tonight? What were the lessons learned?
I think there are a few things. I think if I look back to that Dortmund game, there's 80 per cent of the things you can control in a football match and 20 per cent that you can't. Some referees' decisions, luck going against you. If I look at that game in Dortmund, there were four goals, and two penalties went against us. Then we had a couple of goals where deflections went against us. There were four goals straight away that didn't go in our favour. But at this level, you know that the quality can really hurt you. So for us, it was really making sure, as I said before the game, about the compactness. It was the same plan in Dortmund in relation to being compact and tight, but they broke through that and then obviously the quality came through. So today was just making sure that we had that same mentality, the same courage. I felt we also carried a threat when we had the ball as well. I think our inexperience at this level shows us sometimes we're a bit hurried with the ball, and we give away a little bit too cheaply. But that comes step by step. But to come away to Atalanta, a team of this level, and to have that concentration and play with that commitment. I was very pleased.
We talk about what the players are learning. Do you feel as though personally, as a manager and as a coach, you're still continuing to learn with each game that goes by?
Each day of my life, I'm learning. Until my very last breath. That's the type of person I am. But that's what allows you to springboard even further than where you were. You think of the Borussia Dortmund feeling after that game. We don't want that again in the changing room. That has allowed us that sort of trampoline effect to really push on and learn from it. Then you see tonight, you come to here, it's a great feeling that you've come to a top opponent at this level and been able to keep a clean sheet and defend well. Then it's just a case of building on that step by step. So you're always learning as a manager.
It's funny, isn't it, how different conversations can be a couple of weeks later when I'm talking about four points in three games. I'm assuming you already are beginning to think about points tallies and what you need and what might potentially lead you to the next game?
if you actually look at the games that we've played, the two levels of opponents away from home and in the home game, four points is a really good start for us and a lot of learning in that. There are still a lot of games to go, five more games. We know where we want to get to that hopefully can give us a chance. But we focus on tonight, analyse the game, so much courage and bravery in the team. I'm really, really happy for the players and the supporters because the players are hurt when you're out on that field and you have that Dortmund result. Obviously, the supporters, they've come over here probably unsure what to expect, maybe a feeling of will they concede again? So they will have great pride in the team, and it continues a really good start to the season for us.
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