On their weekly podcast, The Rest is Football, the duo expressed their amazement at the atmosphere the fans generated and applauded Brendan Rodgers’ team for playing fearlessly and getting off to a good start against the La Liga side.
Lineker: “I felt that Celtic put on a good performance, so I have to mention them briefly.” There, at home, they were so close to achieving that victory that has eluded them for so long. They also scored two very good goals.
Shearer: “They too got off to a terrific start, didn’t they? When I was doing the radio segment on COVID-19 live, we would hear, “News from Celtic Park, it’s another goal!” after each goal.
“And I can imagine what it was like because you can hear the atmosphere there.”
Lineker: I’ve been to a few Champions League nights there when I covered them obviously for BT, and, cor, that’s an atmosphere when it gets going.
“I saw them play Barcelona a couple of times; I think they won one of them, actually; it’s a special place.
“A draw against Atletico Madrid was a decent performance.”
The ambiance was very unique. The Celtic supporters were fervently supporting their club from the moment the Champions League theme began to play before the game.
And it appeared to have left Atletico stunned. Following Kyogo’s goal in the third minute, Celtic more than equaled Diego Simeone’s team for the following seventy-five minutes of play.
If not for Celtic’s exhaustion and a controversial penalty call, I think they would have been able to hold on and secure those crucial three points.
It wasn’t meant to be, though, and looking back, a point was a reasonable outcome. Although they will likely be pleased to have earned a point, I think the Celtic supporters will be most pleased with their team’s performance, which lived up to the hype they generated.
The challenging away match against Hibernian is up next for Celtic, and Rodgers will try to increase his lead at the top of the table—albeit only by one day—before Rangers play Hearts on Sunday.