When you lose, of course it hurts. When you lose and feel you haven’t played as well as you could have done, it hurts even more. 

That’s how Celtic will have been feeling on Thursday morning, and how they will still be feeling today.

They have to bounce back from that on Sunday against Rangers, and I think they will. 

The game against Borussia Monchengladbach wasn’t so much a reality check for Celtic, but there is no question the German side deserved to win, and Celtic didn’t play nearly as well as they can.

One of the main reasons for that is that Borussia dominated the midfield area. Their captain Lars Stindl was highly influential in how the game went their way, and he, along with Tobias Strobl and Christoph Kramer, controlled the middle of the park. Borussia made it difficult for Celtic to play through them, and that’s something the team have to get back to.

They have to harry and press high when they don’t have the ball, and they didn’t do that while Borussia were excellent at it. I can’t stress enough how much Stindl played such a big part in that.

In comparison, Scott Brown, Nir Bitton and Tom Rogic were off the pace, and the Germans were sharper and more 
commanding. They looked the better side.

Celtic were particularly poor in that midfield area. When they are on song domestically then I think they are too good for the opposition, but where there is a failing is when they move up a level and they have to make it more difficult for the opposition to play through them. That wasn’t the case on Wednesday night.

Where Celtic will be hurting most is that they didn’t play to anywhere near their potential, and the difference in the level of their performance between the Borussia game and the Man City game was stark.

Borussia were the team that played with the higher intensity at Celtic Park on Wednesday night, and that will be disappointing for Brendan Rodgers.

I was surprised by that. On the back of the Man City match I felt that Celtic would put up more of a challenge, but that’s Champions League football for you, if you are off your game then you will be punished.

Kolo Toure, who has been doing really well since he came to the club, was sadly culpable for both goals, and it just proves that any slip-ups at this level will be ruthlessly exploited.

What Brendan will say though, and he is right to do so, is that this is all still a big learning curve for Celtic. 

If you aren’t up to your game the consequences are what happened to Celtic on Wednesday. I think that was reflected in the atmosphere, when you put it in contrast to the Man City game. 

The Celtic fans were probably a bit subdued by their standards, whereas the great travelling support that came from Germany were in fine voice, and that was a good indication as to how the game was going and how dominant the visitors were.

Some Celtic fans may have turned up expecting a slightly easier game than the Man City one, but I was always sceptical of that view. 

Sometimes when you see the names of Barcelona and Man City then it’s only natural to presume you might have a better chance against a relatively smaller club like Borussia Monchengladbach, but they were always going to provide a stern test and they thoroughly deserved their win. 

Brendan Rodgers will learn from the experience, though. 

It’s going to be difficult for Celtic to make the Europa League now. I don’t think they could afford to lose the game against Borussia 

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it will be extremely difficult on the basis of what you saw on Wednesday. But I’m sure Celtic will lift themselves for the game on Sunday.

There was probably as big a gap between Celtic and Rangers the last time they played as there is between Celtic and the sides they wish to emulate in the Champions League, and their extra quality will shine through on the day.

Their midfield may have struggled in the Champions League, but I’d fancy them to have too much for Rangers in there.

Do Rangers know what their best starting eleven is? Probably not. 
With Celtic, there may be one or two changes of personnel, but it won’t change the shape of the team.

Celtic have more options, both on the pitch and coming off the bench to change the game if required.

I still think that even although Celtic had a poor performance and a poor result during the week, that they have the better shape and the better personnel than Rangers.

It’s still an Old Firm game and it can be unpredictable, but I don’t think that will be the case in this instance.