Celtic must learn from Pep Guardiola's past comments

Celtic will be hoping for a much better result than their last Champions League outing when they take on Atalanta in Italy. The Hoops won their opener 5-1 against Slovan Bratislava, raising hopes around qualification to the next round. But in the very next match in the competition, they lost 7-1 at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.

Those were two contrasting results to say the very least. And now, it remains to be seen how things will play out for Brendan Rodgers' side in their third game in the Champions League this season.

Anybody hoping for a simple task might be awaiting a wake-up call though. Atalanta might not have a high-profile name like AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan or even Napoli, but Gian Piero Gasperini's side have been one of the best in the Serie A for a long time now.

Back when in 2019, they were playing in their first Champions League campaign. One of the teams they came up against was Manchester City and the Italians managed a 1-1 draw in one of those fixtures. Pep Guardiola's comments after the game spoke volumes about the level of opposition.

Celtic must learn from Pep Guardiola's past comments

The Manchester City boss had compared playing against Atalanta with a trip to the dentist. As reported by Euronews in 2019, Guardiola said:

"All the Italians will tell you that to get four points against them is a big success for us.

"Playing Atlanta is like going to the dentist -- it's really, really tough and we knew that it would be. It was a great performance in every sense."

Atalanta have a lot more experience at this level since that game against Manchester City, which was a memorable one largely because Kyle Walker ended up in goal. In fact, they won the UEFA Europa League last season by defeating Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen, who were undefeated coming into the match.

Those comments from Guardiola show the magnitude of the task awaiting Celtic in Italy. If they are not careful, and do not make the right adjustments, this could be just as tough of a game as facing Borussia Dortmund at Singal Iduna Park.