Celtic were “scared,” says Rodgers after Dortmund’s win

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Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers admitted his side were “scared” by their 7-1 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Dortmund led 5-1 at half-time, with winger Karim Adeyemi scoring a hat-trick and winning a penalty before the break.

Emre Can gave Dortmund the lead with a penalty in the seventh minute. Serhou Guirassy also converted the penalty and scored a solo goal. Felix Nmecha added another, equaling his best ever Champions League performance.

Celtic's Daizen Maeda had equalized 1-1 after nine minutes, but just two minutes later Dortmund took the lead back through Adeyemi.

Rodgers said the game was “a tough one.”

“We weren’t at our best and they showed why they are a top team.”

“Maybe we got scared a little too early. At this level you have to reach your highest level and we weren’t – and they were too.”

Celtic had won eight of eight games at the start of the season but ended on the wrong side of a dominant performance from last year's Champions League finalists.

“We were full of confidence,” Rodgers said. “The team played really well. We were in a really good position, but we needed to start the game better than we did.”

“We were punished. In the finish it was absolutely ruthless. It was incredible to see that unfortunately we were behind.”

Celtic's next Champions League game is away to Serie A side Atalanta, who won the Europa League last year.

Rodgers said it was “very difficult for us to reach the level of (Dortmund), but we want to be more competitive.”

“What we saw tonight was the highest level of European play.”

Celtic captain Callum McGregor told TNT Sports: “It hurts.”

“We were punished for every mistake we made, which doesn’t happen often in a football game.”

“Before we knew it, we were down 5-1. A sobering evening.”

“We have to stick together. We had a good start to the season, but were a bit disillusioned.”