Brendan Rodgers and his backroom staff were hard at work today putting the Bhoys through their paces’ ahead of our mammoth clash tonight.
The Hoops will do battle once again with Bayern Munich of Germany and with this our first knockout stage appearance in the Champions League in some years, they will all want to give a good account of themselves.
A narrow 2-1 defeat to the Bundesliga giants last time around at Celtic Park proved when we are at our best, we can push these teams to the limit and this time out, we should be looking to go one better and get that victory.
Callum McGregor was the one who equalised last time the Bavarians visited Glasgow and now as captain, will have the honour of leading the team out onto the battle field.
We will have to be right on it tonight from the word go and ensure we don’t let the Germans settle on the ball as they will find an early rhythm.
It also means our defensive line has to really be beyond reproach this evening and with Cameron Carter-Vickers back in after being absent at Villa Park, it gives us a lot more chance of success against Vincent Kompany’s men.
The crucial factor in this one is definitely the return of Daizen Maeda after Michael Nicholson fought hard to get his two-match ban lifted and reduced to only one, after the BSC Young Boys debacle.
That really could prove to be the difference between getting a result and failing later tonight, as Maeda is certainly an elite player in terms of his pressing ability from the front. It will be interesting to witness how Bayern’s defence cope with his speed, agility and most recent goalscoring form too.
All the guys trained up at Lennoxtown ahead of this mammoth encounter in the Champions League tonight. Daizen and Jota were present along with the captain and many others, putting the final touches on our match preparations as we get set to face our toughest test of the season so far.
It has the potential to be a memorable night for the club this one…
Paul Gillespie
