The fallout of Celtic’s 6-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League will last for a long time.
The mauling in Madrid was Celtic’s worst defeat in Europe since the 7-1 defeat at the hands of Barcelona in 2017 which was, funnily enough under the current Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers.
The Celtic manager had to watch from the sidelines as Celtic collapsed after being reduced to ten men after Daizen Maeda‘s first-half red card.
The decision to dismiss the Japanese winger certainly seemed harsh despite what Stuart Pearce had to say and Brendan Rodgers wasn’t too happy with the VAR verdict.
Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic red card verdict
The Celtic boss was bitterly disappointed and believes that the decision to send off his winger changed the game and was asked post-match if he thought the referee was influenced by the crowd.
Rodgers said [TNT Sports], “Yeah, there’s no doubt. There’s no doubt. And I don’t want to go on about the officials.
“I’ve never been one really to go on, you have to accept decisions but there’s no doubt it feels more like it’s like a computer game.
“You know comes over to see the to see the incident. It’s not a reflection of the actual challenge it’s a still with his foot up, which straightaway plants a seed for his influence is then to send the player off.”
In my opinion, it was never a red card. Maeda challenged for the ball and the follow-through from the Atletico player’s attempted clearance made the challenge look worse than it was.
And as you would expect the crowd got very vocal as they demanded action from the referee. And action they got.
The red card issued to Maeda effectively killed off the game as a contest as Celtic succumbed to a relentless Atletico side intent on hammering home the message that they are the group favourites for a reason.
A bitter pill to swallow but Rodgers needs to pick up his men for Sunday where a resurgent Aberdeen side visits Celtic Park.
In other news, ‘No doubt’… Celtic are set to offer 24-year-old a big new contract to stay