Top dogs Celtic reduced to pitiful poodles in Champions League as place in football food chain laid bare

Celtic were given the most sobering of reminders about where they stand in the football food chain on a galling night in Germany, losing 7-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Rightly praised for their excellent, previously unblemished start to the season - which included a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava on Champions League opening night - Scotland's top dogs were reduced to pitiful poodles by last season's runners-up. Celtic were lucky to escape the Signal Iduna Park having only shipped seven goals.

This landslide defeat - not quite at the scale of their worst European loss, 7-0 by PSG - will surely quieten the chatter of Celtic potentially finishing in the top eight of this newly-revamped league phase. Qualifying for the play-offs will be a roaring success for a team that simply cannot cope with the demands of playing away from home in the Champions League.

Celtic defender Alistair Johnston looks on in horror during the 7-1 defeat by Dortmund. | AFP via Getty Images

Six more matches await Celtic - Atalanta, Leipzig, Club Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys and Aston Villa. None of them will be as arduous as this assignment against Dortmund and the Yellow Wall. Celtic were completely bulldozed in a horribly one-sided first-half that ended 5-1 in favour of the hosts. Karim Adeyemi scored a hat-trick, the visitors conceded two penalties and were ridiculously sloppy in possession.

Key centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers, suffering from a toe injury, was badly missed - but he would have only stopped so much of the bleeding. His replacement Auston Trusty and Liam Scales were horribly exposed at centre-half by a midfield in front of them that offered so little resistance. Captain Callum McGregor was miles off his usual level, and new signings Arne Engels and Paulo Bernardo beside him paled into insignificance against their Dortmund counterparts.

Manager Brendan Rodgers could only watch on in anguish from the sidelines, the horror across his face there for all to see. His team, far too open and weak, were ripped apart by Dortmund's pace, passing and precision. They should have been set up in a far more rigid fashion.

Karim Adeyemi was Celtic's chief tormentor in Dortmund. | AFP via Getty Images

The night started badly on seven minutes when their goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel took down Jamie Gittens in the box. A penalty was awarded, the Dane was booked and Emre Can converted from 12 yards classily.

Celtic's response belied what was about to unfold. Two minutes later, Engels swung in a lovely cross and Daizen Maeda bundled home from close range. Given Celtic came into this match with a degree of optimism, the leveller merely swelled some of their fans' belief that they could give Dortmund a game.

What happened next extinguished such thoughts. Julian Brandt played in Adeyemi and his shot took a wicked deflection off Trusty and looped past Schmeichel. The same player lashed home from an acute angle, although the keeper could have done better. Engels then caught Adeyemi in the box for another penalty, finished expertly by Serhou Guirassy, and then Adeyemi had a first-half hat-trick with a low effort after Celtic once again carelessly gave away possession.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers tries to stop the bleeding. | AFP via Getty Images

Rodgers would have been thankful to get his team in at the break to press a reset button. They were better in the second period - helped by their tormentor Adeyemi injuring a hamstring not long after the restart - but their resistance only lasted another 20 minutes when Guirassy skinned Liam Scales and finished sumptuously.

It was now a matter of keeping the score at six. Celtic's goal difference was now a negative, unthinkable after the buzz of hammering Slovan Bratislava two weeks ago. Adam Idah ought to have restored it back to zero but couldn't head home from a couple of yards out. Felix Nmecha added a seventh not long after, the final punch of an absolute battering on the banks of the Ruhr.

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