Brendan Rodgers BELONGS in the Champions League as Celtic skipper points doubters to Italian masterclass

Callum McGregor insists Brendan Rodgers showed why he’s one of the best in the business with his Italian masterclass.

The Celtic gaffer copped flak from some quarters for his aggressive tactics in the seven goal mauling by Borussia Dortmund three weeks ago. But Rodgers silenced his snipers by surprising Atalanta with his set up that helped Celts secure a stunning draw in Bergamo. McGregor insisted it was ridiculous to be critical of the manager after the Westfalenstadion sore one. Wednesday night’s Italy job, however, just underlined why he’s an elite gaffer who belongs in the Champions League.

McGregor said: “Oh absolutely, absolutely, he’s top, top level and I’ve seen that over so many years now. Obviously he’ll feel good about himself after that as well as all the players. It was excellent. If anyone wants to question the manager then they just need to look at what he’s done in football and what he’s done to our club, he totally transformed the club the first time he was here and he’s come back and taken forward a really exciting Ange Postecoglou team that did really well.

“For me, there’s no question that he’s a top manager. When you come to this competition, the idea in the Dortmund game was similar, we got lost as players so we have to take responsibility for that as well. It got out of hand and we spoke about that.

“As players, we’ve got to take responsibility because it can’t always be the manager’s fault, it’s sometimes the players’ fault as well. But the way that we executed the game plan against Atalanta, especially against that man-to-man system, everyone should take the credit because he came up with the idea and the players then executed it.

“It’s a real togetherness and I’m sure he’ll be the first one to