Celtic have matured in Europe under Brendan Rodgers guidance this season. The new Champions League format may also have suited us. As a fan it has given us an extra night under the disco lights at Celtic Park and it has given us another away day trip to enjoy. We arrived in Munich yesterday via a nights stop over in Riga and we are looking forward to the game tonight on another European adventure.
On our first away adventure in Dortmund we were thought a hard lesson collectively the Celtic manager, his players and us the Celtic fans got a wake up call. Leaving the stadium in Germany that night no Celtic fan could be blamed for thinking that Brendan Rodgers had picked up for where he had left off during his first stint when coming up against top European teams away from Glasgow.
We travelled back to Dusseldorf on the train that night in almost silence, shaking our heads and sipping a few beers to ease the pain of another embarrassing away day defeat in Europe. I was having flash backs to Paris and Barcelona. The head was shaking!
But to his credit Brendan Rodgers picked the team up and went again and in Bergamo the team delivered an impressive defensive performance against inform Europa League Champions Atalanta.
Since then we have pushed on winning games we hoped we would draw and shared the spoils against teams we thought we could beat and with knock out stage achieved against Young Boys. We travelled to Birmingham with hope in our hearts to take on Aston Villa who showed on the night that they are a quality side and although we battled back to make it 2-2 we finally came unstuck to their quality. We can’t compete with these teams on financial terms but we seem to be learning how to compete with them on the pitch and that is down to the manager and his backroom team.
Last Wednesday night we witnessed a really good performance against a top European side in Bayern Munich and they followed it up on Saturday with a really good performance against Dundee United. Bayern Munich are a team that consistently performs on the big stage in Europe and domestically they have been scoring an average of over 3 goals a game in the German Bundesliga which is impressive.
We all thought we would enjoy our half time pie discussing a 0-0 scoreline but we got hit by a sucker punch by Bayern’s most impressive player Olise just on the stroke of the half time whistle. A body blow to everyone in Celtic Park and watching around the globe who follow the Celtic.
Then just as we got comfortable back in our seats boom they score again this time Kane on target. Were the floodgates going to open and were the multi million pound superstars going to pile the pressure and score a few more to end the tie and make our journey to Munich just a Jolly Bhoys?
The answer was no. Celtic battled back and once again the stadium came alive on 75 minutes or there abouts when Celtic showed just how good they can be on home soil. In the end we lost the game but we travel to Germany with a punchers chance. It would be a big upset but we can dream.
It has not been a happy hunting ground for us over the years in their old stadium I watched Martin O’ Neill’s bhoys get beat while in more recent years we have come unstuck in the new stadium. But whatever the result is Celtic fans have travelled across Europe to cheer on the bhoys of this team who have done us proud so far in the Champions League.
Saturdays performance proved just how far away we are from the chasing pack in Scotland. There was to be no Champions League hangover as the manager made the changes to bring in fresh legs and rest some for Tuesday night.
Celtic will win the league this season but will not qualify automatically for the League stage. They are building a really good squad and now paying big money for young players and signing them on long contracts. With the millions banked from this years campaign and the experience the players have gained. Celtic will continue to invest in the squad and will be even stronger next season if we can get back into the League Stage.
The future is bright and our neighbours across the city are suffering meltdown after meltdown. Failure to beat Queens Park means that The Blue Room will remain bare and their bank account empty. While Celtic continue to build a better squad and a bigger bank balance.
The Futures Bright, the futures Green and White as Celtic continue to improve.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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