Ex-Celtic midfielder Scott Allan says the biggest positive his former side can take from their stellar start to the season is “how quickly they are learning from setbacks”.
After an opening Champions League win over Slovan Bratislava, a 7-1 humiliation at Borussia Dortmund threatened to derail their European campaign.
But Brendan Rodgers’ side responded with a gutsy draw away to Atalanta and Tuesday’s comeback victory over RB Leipzig.
“Rodgers said they would learn,” Allan said on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast. “They go away to Atalanta, they put in a different type of performance.
“They were still brave on the ball and there were tweaks to how Celtic pressed Atalanta, but they came away with a valuable point.
“Then you take the RB Leipzig game, it was immense. You could go through so many players, Nicolas Kuhn, Callum McGregor, but the biggest thing for me is how quickly they’re learning from the setbacks.”
Allan hailed former team-mate McGregor’s influence in the Celtic midfield on Tuesday, but German winger Kuhn was the standout at Parkhead.
After a difficult start to life in Glasgow, Kuhn continued his fine start to the season by netting a double against Leipzig before playing a key role in Reo Hatate’s second-half goal.
On the forward’s rapid rise at Celtic, Allan added: “When he first came in he was maybe a victim of the success of other players who have come in and hit the ground running – Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Jota.
“Sometimes in this city people can be really impatient with players if they don’t get off to a flyer, but he had a good pre-season and those goal contributions… it really is incredible stuff from Kuhn.”
