A 6-0 defeat is a bitter pill to swallow for any club. But for Celtic in the Champions League? It’s a complete disaster.
For the team as a whole, their pride and their confidence would have taken a massive hit but if you are the player that got sent off that sparked the rout, how would you feel?
Celtic defender, Alistair Johnston, has opened up on how Daizen Maeda has reacted to the red card and it’s fair to say the Japanese speed king is extremely upset.
Johnston said [The Sun], “Daizen’s distraught. It was a difficult one for him.
“He played on the edge but he needs that edge. He is constantly pressing and running into tackles.
“That is what makes him so effective. In Europe, it is reffed a bit differently, so that is something we are going to have to look at.
“It’s a poison, but we need Daizen to play with that edge — so we can’t take that away from him.
“It was frustrating for him and us, and it made it a really difficult night against a team I expect to go pretty far in this tournament.”
Of course, Maeda played a part in the loss but the damage had already started to be inflicted before the Celtic winger’s red card even happened.
A mistake by Joe Hart for Atletico’s first set the night up for a typical Celtic away performance in the Champions League.
Calamitous defending caused Celtic to go behind so early on in the game and at least four of the six goals were preventable.
So whilst Maeda needs to feel the pain of his part in the defeat, any suggestion that he was the cause of it, especially when the red card has almost universally been accepted as harsh, needs booted out and booted out quickly.