Joe Hart says Atletico Madrid had ‘all the tricks’ to deny Celtic first victory in the Champions League

Joe Hart says Atletico Madrid had the nous and experienced needed to deny Celtic a first win in this season’s Champions League.

Their Group E clash at Parkhead finished 2-2, with Atletico twice coming from behind to snatch a point.

Diego Simeone’s side had to cling on with ten men for the final stages after Rodrigo De Paul was sent off for a second yellow card.

Speaking to TNT Sports at full-time, Hart said: “They’re resolute, they made it difficult for us. They’re the kind of team that’s not going to panic going down to ten men.”

“All the tricks came out, but I thought we were superb tonight.”

Kyogo Furuhashi gave Celtic the lead after four minutes, but Atletico were given a chance to get back in the game when Greg Taylor was caught on the wrong side and committed a soft foul in the box.

Antoine Griezmann had his spot-kick saved by Hart, but he tucked in the rebound.

Luis Palma put Celtic ahead again just minutes later, but Alvaro Morata’s second half header secured the draw.

“Our first half was electric. It’s a shame, a somewhat soft penalty – but that’s Champions League football. Morata – an amazing header,” Hart said.

Despite frustration at not getting the win, Brendan Rodgers’ side can take the positive of a first point in this season’s competition.

“We’re getting there. We are getting there,” Hart said.

However, the former England shot-stopper says there is little time to focus on slow development of the team.

“We want to be in the moment. We’re not building into anything, some of us haven’t got long left.

“We’ve wanted to win every game. We’ve gone for it every game. We’ve gone for it tonight but couldn’t quite get over the line but we’ve got belief going into the last three games”, Hart said.

Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon was watching the game for TNT Sports and was delighted with how they performed at Parkhead.

“The first half was brilliant. It’s the best I’ve seen Celtic play for quite a while, certainly at this level anyway. It was like the good old days!

“The quality, the speed, the intensity. Everything Brendan would want from the team was there. They just found it difficult to maintain it,” he said.

When Rodgers and his team reflect on their performance, Lennon thinks they should take into account the quality of opposition.

“That’s a team that were on a six-game winning run – full of world class stars.

“Everyone will be disappointed, because you always want more but in terms of the performance overall, he’s got to be absolutely delighted with them,” Lennon said.

An electric first half performance from Celtic saw them successfully breach the Atletico defence twice and cause them problems on multiple occasions.

Martin O’Neill – who had a five year spell as manager of the Scottish Premiership club – watched the match for TNT Sports.

He enjoyed seeing Celtic’s attackers punish the Spanish side, and in particular defender Axel Witsel.

“They [Celtic] have been very smart, they’ve been very clever and they’ve been, I think, really aware the fact that Witsel himself, the centre back, is essentially a midfield player, turned in the latter stages of his career into a centre back,” he said.

“He [Witsel] doesn’t think like a centre back, he still thinks like a centre midfield player. I don’t think he’s anywhere near it at all. He’s trying to hold a line.

“Even a poor ball, when Celtic are under pressure, they can still put it over the top, as the second goal proved. It’s caused them absolute mayhem.

“For the first time in a long time, I’ve seen a defence that [Diego] Simeone has engineered look so out of sorts.”