By Kyle Murphy

After a strong performance at Celtic Park two weeks ago, the Scottish champions can be confident as they travel to the Spanish capital to face La Liga giants Atletico Madrid.

Brendan Rodgers’ side currently sit bottom of Group E in the Champions League, with one point only being achieved. Their opponents, however, have managed to earn five points from their opening matches, remaining unbeaten in the process. 

Despite their form in the group stage, the performance of the Hoops has earned great praise from their manager as he sees a constant improvement in their previous matches. 

He said: “We’ve played well in the three games and the level of performance has been better with each game. We want to keep that going and see if we can take more points out of the next three games.”

For the majority of this squad, it’s a test that they have never faced before but with what we’ve seen already, it looks like the confidence to compete against Europe’s best is becoming more visible. 

Celtic skipper Callum McGregor believes that there has been a shift in motivation in his teammates as they want to prove that they belong on Europe’s biggest stage. 

“I think for us European football there has to be a mentality change, … we don’t want to come off the pitch until we get a result,” he said.

“The performance levels in the first three games in the group have been slowly getting better so it’s a mindset switch that we have to try and come here and perform the way that we want to.”

Although there is overriding confidence amongst the squad, a cause for concern for Rodgers will be his side’s form in Spain. Celtic have lost nine successive games and a defeat against Atletico will all but guarantee their exit from the Champions League. 

“We’re not daft. We know this is a game where we want to get a positive result to take into the final two games,” Rodgers added.

Celtic will be without midfielder Reo Hatate after he sustained a hamstring injury early on in the home fixture, meaning that either David Turnbull or Paolo Bernardo will fill in the void.

Diego Simeone’s men will also be missing a key part of their midfield after Rodrigo De Paul received a second yellow card for a challenge on Celtic’s Bernardo in their last outing.

With Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann sure to start up top for Atletico, it’s going to be a difficult night for the Hoops. However, with their increasing confidence over the last couple of weeks, it’s certainly an evening where Celtic can cause an upset and get their Champions League campaign back on track.