Celtic were on the back foot for most of the contest at Gewiss Stadium, but frustrated Atalanta to leave Italy with a hard-earned point.
Atalanta failed to turn their dominance into goals, as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Celtic at Gewiss Stadium.
The hosts endured a frustrating day in Bergamo, where they were unable to find the breakthrough, despite registering 22 shots on goal to their opponents’ four.
Atalanta had collected four points from their opening two games and quickly established their authority on proceedings.
They went closest to scoring in the 18th minute when Mario Pasalic rattled the crossbar with his header from Davide Zappacosta’s cross.
The hosts continued to control the contest and push for the opening goal in the second half, enjoying just under 70% of the possession.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s next move raised eyebrows. Retegui, the topscorer in Serie A, was withdrawn shortly before the hour mark. Rodgers responded by replacing Adam Idah with Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Irishman had been a surprise choice to lead the Celtic attack from the outset. Idah spent 68 minutes on the periphery of the game, which he could reasonably argue was hardly his fault.
Gasperini was increasingly agitated. Davide Zappacosta found Schmeichel’s side netting with teammates screaming for a pass.
Celtic faced a difficult test in the last 20 minutes of play, which was one of endurance, as defending with such intensity had to sap energy.
Engels departed, and so too did Daizen Maeda, as Rodgers looked to maintain freshness. Valle found Furuhashi with a glorious ball from deep, with the Japanese miscuing his attempted lob of Atalanta’s custodian.
Hien headed over to Schmeichel’s bar in stoppage time. However, a combination of stubborn defending and Kasper Schmeichel’s heroics saw Celtic hold on for a hard-earned point.
Celtic had lost all seven of their previous Champions League away matches in Italy. The Hoops had also suffered defeat in eight of their last nine games in the competition on the road.
However, they held firm to stop the rot, with Kasper Schmeichel becoming the first Celtic goalkeeper to make as many as six saves and keep a clean sheet in a Champions League game on record.
As for Atalanta, they are only the second team in the Champions League (2008-09 onwards) to register 20+ shots and 50+ touches in the opposition box during a single match without scoring.
Celtic knew they had their point. The celebrations from those in green and white suggested what transpired here meant a great deal more than that.
