A football legend advised Celtic to swiftly bounce back from their 7-1 defeat in Dortmund, urging them not to let it disrupt their impressive season start.
Brendan Rodgers’ team arrived at Signal Iduna Park with confidence, having won all their matches in the 24/25 season, including a 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava in their first Champions League match two weeks prior. However, they were overwhelmed by their Bundesliga rivals.
Daizen Maeda brought temporary hope to Celtic by equalizing Emre Can’s seventh-minute penalty, but they fell behind again. Dortmund dominated, with Karim Adeyemi scoring a first-half hat-trick, leaving Celtic trailing 4-1 at halftime. Serhou Guirassy added two more goals, and Felix Nmecha capped off the scoring late in the game.
Peter Schmeichel, the former Manchester United goalkeeper and father of current Celtic keeper Kasper, urged Rodgers’ team to move past the defeat quickly, making an emotional appeal to his son in the aftermath.
“It really is difficult,” he reflected. “You always want the best for your children, no matter what circumstance they find themselves in. It was just one of those days that you can never, ever explain. There was so many shots and so many of them went in – there could have been a little bit more. As Callum McGregor said to me earlier, it was just one of those days where you couldn’t get close enough to it.”
The former Danish international, now a TV pundit, shared a light moment with Dortmund’s hat-trick star Adeyemi, joking, “I’ll never forgive you for what you did to my son today!” He then went on to commend the forward’s outstanding performance.
Schmeichel senior shared the advice he offered his son after the match, discussing their conversation in the wake of the heavy defeat. “I talked to Kasper after the game,” he said. “I told him, ‘This was just a bad day at the office, nothing more. You concede seven goals. I experienced this once myself, and you might feel you couldn’t have done much about any of them, but I still let in seven, and my job is to prevent goals. You will definitely reflect on it.'”
“Take it and move on; be one of the leaders in the dressing room and help everyone else learn from this.’ Because up until this point, let’s not forget, Celtic have played really, really good football, and there is so much optimism at the club. You need to go through what happened, but it was just a bad day at the office.”
Celtic’s Alex Valle Deserves a Start at Dingwall
One positive from last night’s heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund was Alex Valle’s appearance in the second half. The Barcelona native came on as a substitute for Greg Taylor, who, like many teammates, struggled in the first half. However, it’s worth noting that Greg might be dealing with a calf injury from the weekend.
The on-loan Barcelona youngster held his own at this level, even against last season’s Champions League finalists. He was confident on the ball and didn’t shy away from defensive responsibilities, proving to be more than a match for physically stronger opponents.
He performed well against St Johnstone on Saturday, so it makes sense for him to start our next match on Sunday at Dingwall against Ross County. This will also give Greg Taylor a chance to recover, as he is likely doubtful about the upcoming Scotland fixtures. It would be best for everyone if he could skip those less significant matches.
With Greg dealing with an injury, Brendan can give Alex his first start in the hoops. In his two appearances, Alex has demonstrated that he can handle the physicality of Scottish football.
He had a rough beginning against Falkirk—until yesterday, the toughest team we faced all season—but showed significant improvement against St Johnstone, where he likely secured the assist of the season for Adam Idah’s goal.
Alex fit right in against Dortmund, so he definitely deserves a chance to make the team, starting in Dingwall on Sunday for the midday kick-off.
Stay on Top of the Game! Get the latest football news, updates, and insights delivered straight to your inbox.
Subscribe Now