Celtic fans don't dare admit their deepest fear about Brendan Rodgers with reputations on the line – Hugh Keevins

I’m sure there are Celtic supporters of a nervous disposition who dare not say out loud what their secret fear is concerning Brendan Rodgers’ team in the Champions League.

The nagging suspicion in their deepest subconscious that one night somebody, somewhere is going to stick double figures past Celtic in a mortifying moment that will live on in infamy. It could have happened against Borussia Dortmund in Germany, which was seven going on the unthinkable. Now it is last season’s Europa League winners Atalanta on Wednesday night. And the onus is on Rodgers to devise a style of play that precludes the possibility of a battering in Bergamo.

The kind of plan that Steve Clarke came up with to salvage a draw from the wreckage of a going over at the hands of Portugal in the Nations League tie last Tuesday at Hampden. Prior to that game, Scotland hadn’t been pulling up any trees in the competition. It was more the case they were pushing up the daisies. A dead loss.

Clarke had been slaughtered for an inclination towards ensuring his team didn’t lose matches rather than endeavouring to win them. The capitulation against Hungary in Scotland’s last match of Euro 24 in Germany was the final straw for Clarke’s detractors.

Ironically, being ultra defensive and getting a single point on the Nations League board by stonewalling the opposition has now won the manager a temporary reprieve. Facts and figures are football’s bread and butter.

They separate the league title winner from the runner-up. The cup winner from the losing finalist. The survivor from the demoted in a relegation dog-fight.

The enjoyment of Celtic’s 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava was heightened by the number of goals scored. The embarrassment created by the loss to