Atalanta boss makes bold Brendan Rodgers claim before facing Celtic

Brendan Rodgers has been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism following Celtic's 7-1 defeat at the hands of Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park in their most recent Champions League game. The Hoops will be looking to get their campaign back on track when they travel to Italy to take on Atalanta.

Of course, Atalanta are expected to provide a tough test to Celtic as well. They are one of the best teams in Italian football and have been for quite some time now.

Gian Piero Gasperini has been one of the main architects behind Atalanta's rise in recent years. He has been their manager since 2016. In fact, it is a bit surprising that he has not ended up at a top Premier League or La Liga club.

Rodgers certainly seems to have a backer in Gasperini, who has talked about staying true to one's vision before facing Celtic in the Champions League in midweek. As reported by STV News, the Atalanta manager said about the Northern Irishman:

"He is a very attacking coach.

“Because if you’re a team that wins a lot, you have to attack.

“You have to be balanced. In Italy, we say the best teams are the ones that have the best defence. But if you look at the numbers, it’s actually the teams that also score a lot of goals. If you want to win, it’s obvious you have to score.

“When we played Liverpool at home, we conceded five goals for the first time. Another time, five goals against City.

“But we learned from those experiences. We then picked up draws and then eventually went on to win those kind of games. You can never turn down and ignore your spirit, your style. You have to be true to that.

“And there’s phases in which you grow as a result with that.

“There is no obvious solution to win. The Champions League is obviously at times exclusive to some of the top, top teams.

“As for our club, we never want to alter our approach but stick to our beliefs."

Atalanta boss makes bold Brendan Rodgers claim before facing Celtic

Of course, Gasperini has experienced success in Europe as Atalanta manager by sticking to his brand of football. Rodgers is trying to do the same with Celtic.

It might not be the best comparison though. At the end of the day, Celtic do not have the same financial pull as one of the top Serie A clubs. That is just the reality of the situation.

If Celtic are to successful at the Champions League level, there is a need to be pragmatic from time to time, especially when up against top teams. Let's see how they approach this game against Atalanta. That will say quite a lot about what lessons have been learnt from the result against Borussia Dortmund.