Add Dortmund to Paris, Barcelona and Madrid on Celtic’s growing list of Champions League crime scenes.
Facing the yellow wall of Signal Iduna Park, the Scottish champions crumbled and collapsed under the relentless pressure of last season’s defeated finalists. When Spanish referee José María Sánchez blew the final whistle, it felt like an act of mercy.
Brendan Rodgers described this as a litmus test for his team and in the cold light of day, they failed on every conceivable level. If the old BBC final score vidiprinter had still been in use, they would have repeated the score in words to emphasize how outmatched the Celtics were in every aspect.
Previously unbeaten in all competitions this season, the Parkhead side came into this game buoyed by the false dawn of a 5-1 thrashing of Slovan Bratislava. Unable to master the basics, terrified and terrified by the speed, pace and clinical finishing of their opponents, this was a sobering step in the class.
Under Rodgers’ management, Celtic have conceded seven goals three times at this level, six goals once and suffered a 5-0 defeat for good measure – another thrashing on foreign soil raises fundamental questions about the approach to these evenings.
Had Celtic put in a respectable and competitive performance, the fans might have accepted their fate. However, the commitment to go toe-to-toe with Europe’s best in their own backyard has led to repeated embarrassments.
It turned out to be a catastrophic evening at Signal Iduna Park for Brendan Rodgers’ men
Alistair Johnston can’t stand watching Dortmund players celebrate another goal
The Parkhead team were stunned after conceding five goals in a one-sided first half
Listen, Celtic had never won on German soil in 14 attempts. Home and away, they only won four of their 28 meetings with Bundesliga teams, losing 19. There was always the possibility of losing here.
The problem lies in the dogged insistence on playing their normal away game against teams far above the St Johnstones of this world.
Another one of those matches in Europe best viewed through the cracks of your fingers, there was always a question mark over how a team attacking at will in the Scottish Premiership would find a way to add steel and pragmatism to their game.
By not trying, this became another of those nights that Celtic fans have witnessed too many times.
Under Rodgers, the Parkhead team lost 7-0 to Barcelona in September 2016. Last season, they sent six against Atlético Madrid.
Last night, despite Emre Can’s seventh-minute penalty being instantly canceled out by Daizen Maeda, the loss of the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers at this level was felt once again.
Daizen Maeda’s early goal was the only bright spot on a terrible night for the Scots.
Would it have made much difference? Probably not. At half-time the score was 5-1 in the eighth, Serhou Guirassy adding a sixth after turning over Liam Scales after 67 minutes.
Every mistake was punished and Celtic made a lot of it, giving up possession again and again. Celtic conceded two goals from 12 yards in a brutal first half, with the
Standout Karim Adeyemi scored a hat-trick before the break. When the attacker left the fight injured at the start of the second half, it was the first respite for Celtic after a relentless attack from their Bundesliga hosts.
After a penalty committed by Kasper Schmeichel in the seventh minute, the response was initially promising. Arne Engels crossed and Maeda stepped up to put the ball into the net from close range. It was, in every sense, a false dawn.
After a minute, Dortmund went back on the attack to regain the lead thanks to the incomparable Adeyemi, exploiting the space in Auston Trusty’s area. The striker’s shot deflected wickedly off the boot of the £5million defender as he moved to block and passed a helpless Schmeichel to score 2-1.
When Schmeichel made a great save at his near post to prevent Guirassy from putting the third goal into the net after a delightful backheel from the number 10, he was only delaying the inevitable.
Panting, struggling to deal with the speed, pace and intensity of BvB, Celtic struggled to stay in the game.
In the 29th minute they failed to finish off a corner. There seemed to be little danger until Adeyemi collected the ball on the edge of the area and unleashed a rather thunderous shot towards the goal, Schmeichel was surprised that he had hit the target. A spectacular blow, the Celtic goalkeeper simply did not expect it.
Engels has earned plenty of praise for his performances since joining Celtic. By catching the foot of Adeyemi’s boot in the area, the Belgian awarded Celtic the second penalty of the match. Guirassy accepted it this time, but the result was more or less the same. With five minutes left before half-time, Celtic trailed 4-1.
Dortmund did not need gifts. However, Celtic’s possession was resumed when Maeda gave the ball directly to Adeyemi on the edge of his own area three minutes before the break.
Karim Adeyemi scored three goals in the first half to put Celtic to the sword
Taking advantage of the error, the talented 22-year-old smashed the low ball past Schmeichel, scoring the fifth goal and a hat-trick in the first half. Another Celtic night in the Champions League was entering the realm of abject and appalling humiliation. And it wasn’t done yet.
The departure of Mats Hummels, Jadon Sancho and Niclas Fullkrug in the summer was supposed to weaken Dortmund. Too much for that.
Two of the last four cases in which a team scored four goals in the first half of a Champions League match had involved Dortmund. The last time they did it, they scored eight against Legia Warsaw in November 2016.
They seemed ready to repeat the feat here.
The introduction of Alex Valle and Reo Hatate did nothing to stop the blood flow.
Most of the goals came from Celtic giving the ball away. Alistair Johnston conceded a goal in his own half and an instant later Guirassy was rounding Scales to slide the sixth goal past Schmeichel at his right post.
A dreadful introduction to this level for Trusty was when the American passed the ball straight to Felix Nmecha with 11 minutes left, the substitute smashing the ball past Schmeichel to make it 7-1.
There was little consolation for Celtic beyond the blunt knowledge that the result could have been much worse. On a day when the youth team lost 4-0 to the same rival, an aggregate score of 11-1 told an old story, increasingly familiar.
Defiant until the end, the Celtic fans cheered their team on until the end. The only way the show could have been more out of place was if they had sung a doh-a-deer chorus.
