Erik Sviatchenko describes mood in Celtic dressing room following 7-0 hammering at Barcelona

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The Scottish Premiership side began their Champions League campaign with an emphatic defeat.

Celtic’s Erik Sviatchenko

Erik Sviatchenko has explained to STV that there was a very sombre mood within the Celtic dressing room following their 7-0 hammering at the hands of Barcelona, but he also insisted that the squad will put the defeat behind them.

A Lionel Messi hat-trick, goals from Neymar and Andres Iniesta and a brace from Luis Suarez saw the Catalan giants inflict the heaviest European defeat in the Hoops’ history upon Brendan Rodgers’ men.

And, perhaps unsurprisingly, Sviatchenko explained that the away dressing room was not the best place to be immediately following the game.

“I believe that we have the mentality to bounce back,” he told STV. “I think the squad is one that can show that and we just need to move forward.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

“Luckily we have a lot of games in this tournament to bounce back.

“Obviously it will always be a bit quiet after an embarrassing moment like that. There weren’t many words spoken, it was more like a bit of embarrassment.”

While the scoreline became an embarrassing one for the Bhoys, it is arguably surprising that it appears that Rodgers did not make more of an effort to get the players to not dwell on the loss.

Despite thrashing Rangers at the weekend, Celtic were always going into the Nou Camp as massive underdogs, and few would have truly believed that they were going to begin their Champions League campaign with anything other than a defeat.

And in an attempt to lift his players’ spirits, it would have surely made sense for the Northern Irishman to tell his squad to reflect on the drubbing as an experience and as motivation to make sure it does not happen again. But Sviatchenko’s assessment of the mood suggests that may not have been the case.

Perhaps with the Bhoys having the chance to equalise after going 1-0 down – Moussa Dembele had a penalty saved – the side were left reflecting on what may have been had they levelled the tie up and begun to potentially frustrate Barca into making some mistakes.