Brendan Rodgers is unfortunate common Celtic denominator as nagging suspicion must be playing on his mind - Hugh Keevins

I asked the question here last week: “Who can Brendan trust?” And the answer, so far as Celtic’s European humiliation in Germany was concerned, was no-one at all. Including the manager himself.

It was Brendan Rodgers who said Celtic, in his estimation, had never been “more ready” for the Champions League. That has turned out to be a grotesque misrepresentation of the facts. Strength in depth at European level has been exposed as being a total falsehood. Dortmund wasn’t about the Yellow Wall. It was more about the glass ceiling.

The idea that playing the runners-up in last season’s Champions League final was some sort of free hit for Rodgers’ team was an exercise in self-delusion on the part of supporters who couldn’t see what was staring them in the face. It was wishful thinking at the expense of heeding factual evidence.

I also said last weekend that Celtic needed to avoid “drowning in Deutschland”. They went down with all hands on deck in the Signal Iduna Park in a 7-1 hiding that the manager admits was a tough watch. It was the third time in Celtic’s history that the club had conceded seven goals in a Champions League tie.

The common denominator is Rodgers has had the misfortune to be the manager of the team on each of those occasions. Self-analysis is a lonely business. You only have your own thoughts for company. What must be preying on Rodgers' mind is the nagging suspicion he’ll never truly reach the next level in Europe with Celtic.

That was his primary aim when he returned to the club for a second time. But, in spite of being backed by his employers to the extent that they broke their own transfer record twice in quick succession to sign Adam Idah and Arne Engels, that ambition is as far away as it has ever