Celtic paid ultimate Champions League compliment as purring pundit insists they have played best football of ANY team

Celtic have been praised for playing the best football of ANY team in the Champions League group stage.

That stunning verdict was delivered as a panel of experts described their performance in the thrilling 2-2 draw against Spanish giants Atletico Madrid at Parkhead. Brendan Rodgers’ side still only have one point at the halfway stage in Group E and face an uphill battle to secure European football beyond Christmas.

Rodgers was full of pride, though, after a brilliant display. Matt O’Riley’s sublime pass set up Kyogo for a quick-fire opener and Luis Palma restored the lead after Antoine Griezmann netted from the rebound after Joe Hart saved his initial penalty after following a foul by Greg Taylor inside the box. Alvaro Morata then headed an excellent leveller. But speaking on the TNT Sports Champions League highlights show, James Richardson asked top pundit James Horncastle: “Poor Celtic, beating Hearts at the weekend - and then breaking them tonight. It’s hard to know what to make it. There’s a lot of pride on the social media and reaction of Celtic supporters who were delighted, particularly with the first half performance, against Atletico Madrid. But the point, is it enough James?”

The Englishman replied: “They had to get something out of this game. I think they’ve played some of the best football I’ve seen in the competition so far this season.” Richardson asked: “From ANY team?”

And as he described the opening goal, he continued: “Yeah. You go back to the goal that Matt O’Riley and Furuhashi scored for the opener against Lazio but this one was even better than that. That was just magnificent in terms of the understanding and telepathy between between Matt O’Riley and Furuhashi. It’s two one-twos that led up to