BRENDAN RODGERS, the Celtic manager, refused to be critical of his players after they were handed a football lesson by a brilliant Barcelona side in Camp Nou.
The 7-0 scoreline in all honesty could have been worse on a night when the gulf between the champions of Spain and Scotland was as huge as many Celtic supporters feared when the draw for the group stage was made.
Barcelona were quite magnificent and while this was Celtic’s heaviest ever defeat in European football, it was not their worst considering the opposition. Lionel Messi scored a hat trick, Luis Suraez got two and there was one each for Andres Iniesta and Neymar – who produced four assists.
These are world class players and while the Scottish champions could not be faulted for effort, they were a distance second to their awesome opponents. It was some comedown from the high of beating Rangers 5-1.
“We put a huge effort into the weekend and got a fantastic victory,” said Rodgers. "It was always going to be really tough in this game to play probably the best possession team in the world.
“In the first half we had a critical moment in the game when we won a penalty [missed by Moussa Dembele]. We went 1-0 behind very early, but we then had a great chance when we got the penalty and I think if you get it to 1-1 then it makes it a little bit nervy, especially after them losing here weekend.
“But of course not long after that they got the second goal and then in the second half we just ran out of legs.
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“The game at the weekend – added to their immense quality – makes it very difficult and the scoreline by the end was bitterly disappointing. But there was a lot to take from the game for the players in terms of technique, in terms of simplicity and quality and lots of things to learn for them.
“It is always going to be a long night when you are up against that kind of quality but what you have got to do is to try and give them something to think about for a little period.”
For a while it did look as though Celtic’s record defeat, an 8-0 loss to Motherwell in 1937, was under threat. Barcelona seemed as if they could score at will and it is no exaggeration to say that it could have been double figures.
In saying that, it is hard to be overly critical of a Celtic side who were up against a team which at times appeared to be playing at a completely different level.
Rodgers, however, tried to find some positives from the wreckage of a result which would have dented his pride.
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“There were one or two periods in that first half when we broke through and we looked a threat,” said the Celtic manager. “I thought Scott Sinclair was outstanding with his quality and his work-rate and then we got a penalty.
“If you put that away . . . you don’t get many opportunities at places like this here so you have to be able to take that opportunity. Unfortunately for young Moussa the goalkeeper has read the penalty and then they scored to make it 2-0 and it is very difficult then.”
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