Callum McGregor 'embarrassed' by Celtic defeat as Brendan Rodgers says refereeing 'feels like a computer game'

Callum McGregor admitted Celtic’s 6-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League was "embarrassing" as the 10-man Scottish champions were put to the sword in the Spanish capital.

Brendan Rodgers’ side fell behind in the sixth minute to Antoine Griezmann’s deflected shot, before things went from bad to worse when Daizen Maeda was sent off after the referee upgraded his yellow card to red following a review on the pitchside monitor.

That opened the floodgates as Atletico picked off their opponents at will to leave Celtic’s hopes of progressing from Group E in tatters.

McGregor described the experience as "humbling" in the aftermath and called on the team to ensure it didn’t happen again - Celtic also had a man sent off in the 2-2 draw in the home fixture against Atleti.

"Yeah, a really tough night for sure," McGregor said, live on TNT Sports. "Embarrassing to lose and lose six goals. We have to learn, we have to learn quick, that has to be a one-off.

"We’ve now came to two away games and had men sent off in both games. This level is difficult enough 11-v-11 and that's not to point fingers at anyone because I think all three of the challenges over the two games, there’s not been any malice in them.

"The threshold is so low for red cards, we have to adjust probably the way we’re defending. But we have to learn for that.

"Like I said, that's two games in a row way for home we’ve gone down to 10 and then nine, and this level is too difficult to go play with 10 men or nine men and you see the massive quality there with the goals."

Alvaro Morata doubled Atletico’s lead on the stroke of half-time before Griezmann notched his second in acrobatic fashion.

Substitute Samuel Lino made it 4-0 with the pick of the bunch and then turned provider for Morata’s second, before Saul Niguez capped off a truly miserable evening for Celtic, who remain rooted to the bottom of the group on one point.

McGregor praised Diego Simeone’s side for putting on a "clinic in how to play against 10 men" and said Celtic were paying the price for not picking up points at home.

"We’ve been unlucky in the home games not to get anything from it," he added. "It looks a tough one now [to qualify], especially after that result.

"But yeah, the home games are the ones that you're trying to target for points and we should have more points than what we do. But that's a humbling experience for us. We played really well in the game two weeks ago but that's a sore one for sure."

Rodgers agreed with his captain's assessment that Celtic haven't made as big a mark at Celtic Park as they should have done, but was critical of the referee's decision to send off Maeda in the first half.

"We’re clearly very disappointed," he told TNT Sports. "It was always going to be a challenge for us 11-versus-11 against their quality and to get the man sent off so early in the game after we've made a good start, we looked confident and we were ready to fight in the game but really, really disappointed with the sending off.

"I think when you see the images that the referee seen it wasn't representative of the of the actual challenge.

"Both players sort of clashed feet, kicked each other. So for us then to lose a man for that was going to be really difficult."

Maeda was initially shown a yellow for the challenge before the man in the middle was advised to review his decision at the pitchside monitor, and Rodgers thinks the referee was influenced by the pressure applied by the home fans.

“Yeah, there's no doubt [the referee was influenced] and I don't want to go on about the officials," he added. "I've never been one really to go on.

"You have to accept decisions but there's no doubt it feels more like it's a computer game. The constant looking at the screens and like I say when the referee comes over to see the incident, it's not a reflection of the actual challenge. It's a still with his foot up, which straightaway, plants a seed for the referee.

"And then and then from there, his influence is then to send the player off."

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