I think the general consensus about Tuesday night’s Celtic defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League is that the team were simply outclassed.
Yes, being reduced to ten men when 1-0 down didn’t help but the likelihood was that Celtic would probably have lost the match anyway.
That sounds defeatist but looking at the team’s history in the competition and the fact that Atletico have players worth tens of millions of pounds at their disposal, a win in Spain considering Celtic have never won there in their entire history was very unlikely.
However, whilst we cannot fault the team for effort there was one player that tried to ensure Celtic walked out of the Metropolitano Stadium with their heads held high.
Cameron Carter-Vickers shines again for Celtic
The US defender has been a man mountain for Celtic all season. Returning from injury, Carter-Vickers has brought stability to the Celtic backline.
The ‘outstanding‘ defender was on top form again despite the 6-0 hammering and had it not been for his efforts, it could have been a lot worse.
According to football ratings site, SofaScore, Carter-Vickers made five clearances over the whole 90-minute mauling.
The 25-year-old also won three out of his four ground duels, made three successful tackles and blocked a shot on target.
He also had 75 touches of the ball and out of those touches, Carter-Vickers had a passing accuracy of 91%.
In what was a bad night all round, Carter-Vickers was his usual dependable self in the Celtic backline and the fans will be hoping to see more of the same on Sunday as Aberdeen visit Celtic Park.
In other news, What Atletico defender Jose Gimenez did in Celtic dressing room after Tuesday’s game