Dortmund hammer Celtic 7-1 with Adeyemi first-half hat trick

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Why are Celtic so poor away from home in the Champions League

ESPN FC's Craig Burley tries to break down why Celtic ship so many goals away from home in the Champions League after their 7-1 thrashing by Borussia Dortmund.

Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 06:46 pm

Borussia Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi scored a first-half hat trick as last season's losing finalists hammered Celtic 7-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday with five goals in the opening 42 minutes.

The humbling scoreline sent Dortmund top of the 36-team Champions League standings, with two wins from two matches and a goal difference of nine, while Celtic plunged from third to 19th.

"A sore one, for sure. We were punished with every mistake we made. Before we knew it, we were 5-1 down. A sobering night," Celtic captain Callum McGregor told TNT Sports.

The 80,000 crowd started the celebrations early at the Westfalenstadion, with Emre Can scoring from the spot in the seventh minute after Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel up-ended Jamie Gittens and was booked.

Celtic momentarily hushed the deafening Yellow Wall two minutes later when Daizen Maeda bundled in a cross from Arne Engels but Adeyemi restored the lead with a shot deflected in off Auston Trusty in the 11th.

The Germany winger made it 3-1 in the 29th when he lashed the ball into the top corner past the diving Schmeichel, then won a 39th minute penalty for Serhou Guirassy to tuck away before completing his hat trick three minutes later.

Karim Adeyemi celebrates scoring his third goal of the first half.
Bernd Thissen/picture alliance via Getty Images

Guirassy grabbed his second of the night in the 66th and second-half substitute Felix Nmecha completed the rout in the 79th, with Celtic having Schmeichel to thank for keeping the sobering scoreline to seven.

The half-time shredding rewound Celtic's goal difference to zero after their 5-1 thrashing of debutants Slovan Bratislava in their opening match last month, and it only got worse.

Guirassy's second came after a poor clearance by Alistair Johnston as Celtic, who arrived with some confidence of getting a good result in their opener, paid the price for slack passing and scant possession.

Adeyemi was the first Dortmund player to score a first-half hat trick in Europe since 2002 and his achievement left the 4,000 travelling Celtic fans shell-shocked as the speedy hosts ripped their side apart.

"We scored seven goals, so it was a really good night. We can reach the final again if we keep playing like this," he said afterwards.

Both teams had started unchanged from weekend domestic league games with Celtic the leaders in Scotland and Dortmund, 3-0 winners at Belgian side Club Brugge in their European opener, fifth in the Bundesliga.

"The quick goal killed us and rattled us a little bit. When you give good players time on the ball, they will kill you. And that's what they did," McGregor said.

Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin said his team set the bar high.

"We were always looking to go forward, and we're difficult to beat when we play like that. I was incredibly pleased with the amount of effort we put in," he said.

Dortmund's next game is at Real Madrid on Oct. 22, a repeat of last year's Wembley final, while Celtic play last year's Europa League winners Atalanta in Italy on Oct. 23.