After defeating holders St Johnstone 1-0 in the League Cup semi-final, Ange Postecoglou’s focus instantly shifted towards Thursdays Europa League tie against Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. It will be imperative that Celtic take a result back to Glasgow with them if they want to set up a winner takes all battle with Real Betis in the final Group G match in December.
“I feel we are in a good place to have a go at them. Can we take the game to them and come away with a result?,” Ange told the media, as reported by Daily Record. “It’s really important that we do that in games like this. Otherwise it’s all bravado without any substance.
“The reason we play as we do is because that is the kind of team we want to be. We want to be that against everyone. If you shy away when the stakes are highest, and you are up against better quality, then players would lose belief in what I am telling them.
“If we fall short we fall short. We get back up and go again. But changing our approach or trying to be more conservative goes against the grain of what I am trying to teach my players.”
Like most Celtic fans I love to hear Ange talk this way. It’s obvious that he believes in his players and is trying his hardest to instill confidence within this group that they shouldn’t fear anyone they come up against domestically or on the continent. In recent years our European form has suffered and you could visibly see our players lacked belief when coming up against better sides in Europe, leading to hugely disappointing results against sides we really should have been beating.
Thinking back to our first meeting with the Germans in the second round of matches in September, Ange is adamant Celtic are a much more settled side now from the one that went down 4-0 at Celtic Park. Having been at the match myself I also agree with the manager that the scoreline that evening wasn’t reflective of how the match unfolded. It was a lot closer than the result indicated, with the main difference being Bayer Leverkusen took the chances they were presented and unfortunately we didn’t.
He said: “We are more settled than last time. If I remember correctly, that was Kyogo’s first game back after being out for a month. It was Cal McGregor’s first for a while too. So we weren’t very settled, our form was up and down in that period.
Ange, Bitton and the lads ☘️ pic.twitter.com/tFCAhN8glY
— The Celtic Exchange Podcast 🎙 (@CeltExchange) November 21, 2021
“It has a different feel now, we have a better platform and we need that because it’s an enormous challenge. I know we lost 4-0 but anyone at the game would agree there wasn’t that much of a disparity between the two teams.
“People say it must have been a thumping – but the score doesn’t tell the story of the game. Yes, we conceded four but we could have scored four ourselves and that gives us confidence that, even against the best teams, we can still create good chances and play our football.
“We paid a price on the night for making mistakes that maybe you’d get away with in domestic competitions but against the best you don’t. It was a lesson.
“We got a lot of belief out of that game but also sort of learnings on how to play against quality opposition.
“We made mistakes that cost us at both ends of the field in terms of missing chances and giving up chances. So it’s a good part of our development to face a team like that. We have definitely improved since then and our general form has been a lot stronger in all competitions.
“From our perspective, we feel good about where we are at.”
Real Betis will host Hungarian champions Ferencvaros at the Benito Villamarin stadium at the same time as Celtic go all out for a result in Leverkusen. It would help Celtic if the team from Budapest could cause an upset and take points from the Spanish side who currently sit 5th in La Liga, but Ange is refusing to get bogged down worrying about something he has no control over.
Ange said: “We can’t worry about what happens in the other game. What we do know is that our last two results have given us a chance. It’s still in our hands. It’s going to be a challenge. Betis need a result to make sure of their qualification so I’m sure they will be up for it too.
“That’s the opportunity that is before us at Leverkusen. It’s a hell of an incentive to set up a game like that. It could be one of those memorable nights at Celtic Park that stays for the ages.
“That’s why we are here, to create those moments. To get that opportunity we need to get the job done on Thursday and that’s our first task.”
It will be interesting to see on Thursday how far we have progressed since our first meeting with the German club back in September and whether we have learned lessons from that night. We definitely look a more settled side and back to back wins against Fenencvaros will have provided confidence that we are capable of outplaying teams on this stage. Leverkusen are also dealing with a few injuries so we really have no excuse to not go there and get a result.
As Ange himself says, this is the type of challenge we should be relishing. He wants his side to go out against teams like this and show that we can compete at this level. If we fall short we fall short but if the players truly believe in Ange’s philosophy we should enter this type of match with no fear. This match will be a proper acid test regarding how far we have progressed. I have a feeling we might just be up for the challenge.
Conall McGinty
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