Brendan Rodgers defends Celtic’s approach despite latest Champions League hammering

Brendan Rodgers said he won’t change Celtic’s approach in the Champions League despite the club’s 7-1 hammering at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.

Rodgers admitted it was a “tough watch” and said his players became “spooked” as Dortmund ran riot and Karim Adeyemi scored a hat-trick.

And for Rodgers, it was the third time his Celtic team have suffered a seven-goal defeat in the Champions League, when no other coach has had more than one.

Celtic were thrashed 7-0 by Barcelona and 7-1 at Paris Saint-Germain in his first spell in charge, while there was also a 6-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid last season.

But Rodgers insisted his Celtic teams would not “sit in and camp” and admitted “sometimes the quality just breaks through” at the highest level.

He told TNT Sports: “Are we going to sit in and camp, and wait and wait? No, we won’t do that.

“We play in a way that allows us to dominate domestically. We know it’s going to be difficult at times for us to do that, but we still have to show our ability with the ball.

“Tonight, we weren’t anywhere near that level, we gave it away too easily. Then we got punished from that.”

The Scottish champions became the first British team to concede five goals in the first half of a major European game since Cwmbran Town in the 1997-98 Uefa Cup.

Celtic won their Champions League opener 5-1 at home to Slovan Bratislava amid a run of 17 consecutive wins and Rodgers continued: “We went in high in confidence.

"The team’s been playing ever so well. So we felt we were in a really good place. But I think we needed to start the game much better than we did.

"When we analyse the game, there were certain issues, positioning, that we would have to be better in.

"We got punished for passes and loose bits of play. It was absolutely ruthless in the finishing. It was actually incredible to see.

"At times our positioning was a little bit too open and you’ve just got to really tighten the game or else they play through you, and that’s what they did.

"Once they’re in then that speed and power that they have at the very highest level, then you see where it takes them."