Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has talked up the Hoops’ chances against Bayern Munich at Celtic Park, having already beaten Bundesliga side RB Leipzig 3-1 at Paradise earlier this season in the Champions League.
With Bayern the favourites going into the game, Celtic will be the underdogs. However, the Hoops showed in their victory against Leipzig on Bonfire Night that they can bring the fireworks under the lights at Paradise against European opposition.
Having come up against Bayern boss Vincent Kompany over three spells in England when Kompany was a player, Rodgers was optimistic about how he feels ahead of the game, with Celtic having scored 14 goals in six days and conceding only one in that time.
He said: (RecordSport), “I don’t have any doubt that we can hurt Bayern. We’ve got goals in us, we’ve shown that at all levels.
“We can score goals. They’ve obviously got threats but it’s the knock-out stages of the Champions League. Every team has big quality and I’ve been up against some of these teams, so I know how they play.
“Vincent Kompany will have played against my teams at Swansea, Leicester and Liverpool so he’ll know how my teams work. It’s going to be a fantastic game and I’ll look forward to it. It’s my job to convince the players that we can get a positive result.
“We’ve shown it – and can take confidence from – our qualification to get to this point over the course of eight games in the Champions League. We’ve shown the template of playing at home against RB Leipzig and away against Atalanta – and that combination of both can get us results.”
For Celtic, it will need to be as close to a perfect performance as possible, and supporters will be under no illusions about the threat Bayern can bring. It is arguably Celtic’s biggest game in 12 years, dating back to when the Hoops faced Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League in 2013.
Areas of the game where Celtic will have the advantage include the home support, with the 12th man of the Celtic faithful likely to create an atmosphere among the very best of the season.
Rodgers also has an advantage over Kompany in terms of managerial experience, with the Belgian being a surprise appointment for Munich in the summer.
The Irishman has consistently come up against Kompany in the English Premier League when Kompany was at Manchester City, with Rodgers showing exactly what his teams can bring, consistently testing Kompany in defence. He will therefore know that Celtic won’t sit back and will instead attack Bayern from the start.
