CELTIC MANAGER BRENDAN Rodgers felt his team got “spooked” by Borussia Dortmund’s quickfire response before being heavily punished for a number of mistakes in a 7-1 thrashing in Germany. The Hoops arrived at Signal Iduna Park in optimistic mood and in free-scoring form after 17 consecutive wins, including a 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava in their opening match of the Champions League. But they were on the end of the kind of thrashing that they have been handing out themselves in recent weeks.
Daizen Maeda’s ninth-minute equaliser was the high point for the travelling support but Karim Adeyemi netted the first goal of his first-half hat-trick two minutes later. Rodgers said: “It was a tough watch to be honest. We weren’t quite at our best and they showed why they’re a top, top team.
“We didn’t make the start that we wanted and then, like I said to the players afterwards, I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game where I felt that every single mistake that we made got punished. “And that’s the level. Any misplaced pass or moment that they had, it just seemed to end up in the back of the net.
And then on the other side, we had a couple of moments in the second half and it didn’t just quite fall for us. “At this level, especially away from home against a top team, you need to be at your highest level. We weren’t and they were.
” Some basic errors on the ball were punished, including Maeda twice losing the ball to Adeyemi before the forward fi.
