I’M not sure that the Celtic players had the necessary belief that they could get something from the last two Europa League defeats to the two Red Bull sides – Salzburg and Leipzig.
However with the Germans arriving in Glasgow this week for Thursday night’s return fixture in the double header, you sense that the Celtic players are ready to stand and deliver a performance and a result that will blow this group wide open.
Celtic have been banging in the goals for fun recently and have had a series of shut-outs since conceding the two pretty awful goals in Leipzig.
The back four of Lustig, Boyata, Benkovic and Tierney have impressed and you sense that we’ve seen the last of the cheap goals that have been gifted in the last two games. Red Bull might give you wings but their players could be about to find out that it is Celtic who are flying on Thursday.
Up top of course much will depend of Odsonne Edouard, who reached double figures for goals scored this season at the weekend in the 5-0 thrashing of league leaders Hearts. Celtic have a game in hand, so the Edinburgh side have seen their cup ambitions go up in smoke and their lead at the top all but disappear. Revenge for that defeat at Tynecmdstle in August has well and truly been achieved in a nine goal to nil couple of victories.
Revenge for the defeat in Leipzig is next and the 20 year old French strikers reckons it’s on the cards.
“I think it will be a totally different game to the match in Germany,” Odsonne said to Celtic TV.
“It is a home match for us, so it is going to be totally different.
“We want to win every match so that will be the same on Thursday evening against Leipzig. We know that this is a really important game for us, so we want to go into it with the best approach and the best mindset.
“There is a good dynamic about the team at the moment and we are in good form. We are always working harder to get better and trying to improve our standards to get the wins.”
Edouard also spoke about Celtic’s continued dominance of the domestic game in Scotland. He’s been in Scotland for just over a year but is well aware of the success that Celtic has enjoyed over the past 7 seasons.
“I think we have shown over the past seven years that we are the best team and we want to keep that up for as long as we can,” French Eddie stated.
“For me, I feel good physically right now. The same goes for the whole team, too. I just try to do as well as I can in each match to help the team win.”
Leipzig won 3-0 at Hertha Berlin at the weekend so are also in good form and will be looking to effectively eliminate Celtic from the competition by winning at Celtic Park.
They are probably expecting a similar Celtic performance to the one in Germany. They could be in for a surprise.
