Celtic suffered a heavy 7-1 defeat at the hands of Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League match on Tuesday, with coach Brendan Rodgers admitting his team was “spooked.” Dortmund stormed to a 5-1 lead by halftime, fueled by Karim Adeyemi’s hat-trick and a penalty win.
Dortmund opened the scoring in the seventh minute through a penalty by Emre Can, and Serhou Guirassy followed with another spot-kick and a solo goal. Felix Nmecha added to the tally as Dortmund equaled their best-ever Champions League performance. Despite Celtic’s Daizen Maeda briefly equalizing at 1-1, Dortmund regained control just two minutes later through Adeyemi.
Rodgers described the match as “a tough watch” and acknowledged his side wasn’t at their best against last year’s Champions League finalists. “We might have got spooked a little bit early,” he said, noting the need to perform at a higher level against top-tier competition.
Celtic, who had won their first eight games of the season, were handed a sobering lesson by Dortmund’s clinical finishing. Captain Callum McGregor reflected on the loss, calling it “a sore one” and emphasizing the need for the team to regroup. Celtic’s next test comes against Serie A’s Atalanta, who won last year’s Europa League.
