Celtic boss made one massive mistake vs Borussia Dortmund

It is important that Celtic do not dwell too much on their 7-1 defeat at the hands of Borussia Dortmund. Unfortunately, the Hoops have not yet figured out their approach when it comes to competing with top teams away from home in the Champions League. In the previous two seasons, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid handed them heavy defeats as well.

That does not make it any easier. There are some lessons to take out from this game for sure as mistakes were made on the pitch and off it.

One of the brave calls Brendan Rodgers made on the day was playing Paulo Bernardo over Reo Hatate. That might not have seemed a bad call at the time but in hindsight, it certainly proved to be a mistake.

Bernardo completed just six passes, lost half of his duels and did not complete a tackle or interception in the first half. When he was subbed off at the break and Hatate was brought on, it felt like an admission that a mistake had been made.

Celtic boss made one massive mistake vs Borussia Dortmund

We win or we learn, and it seems pretty clear that Hatate should be the preferred choice when it comes to games of this magnitude. He has done well against European level opposition in the past, even against Real Madrid, and was excellent vs Slovan Bratislava.

To be fair, Bernardo has been superb in recent weeks. It is easy to see why Rodgers picked him, based on form, but the result was not the desired one.

Of course, this is not the end of the road for Celtic in the Champions League. Not even close. But they need to use this experience to get better in upcoming games. Their next European match is an away trip to Italy to face Atalanta, another tough test.