We have watched Celtic in Champions League games away from home against the great and the not-so-great for 23 years. In all that time, we have seen them win twice, an heroic last minute header by Georgios Samaras at Spartak Moscow, then an unlikely 0-3 demolishing of Anderlecht, unlikely, as Anderlecht won the return game at Celtic Park.
There was a draw in Barcelona 20 years ago (back when we drew there often), two others in 2016 – at Borussia Monchengladbach and Manchester City, and in 2022 we drew with Shakhtar Donetsk at an away game in Poland. That’s all we have to show for 23 years on the road in this competition.
So you and I are both conditioned for what lies ahead, be it Trondheim or Madrid. That being the case, there should be a degree of freedom about Celtic at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund tonight. This is our most difficult game on paper. Liberated from expectations, we can play with the confidence only a side with nothing material to lose could muster.
Borussia conceded two late goals as they lost the final of this competition as recently as June, they will be professionally respectful of Celtic, but they would be shocked to their core if they dropped a point tonight.
All of these convincing wins we have enjoyed recently are a bit disconcerting, anyway. We are in no way the finished article, but Celtic will gather important information tonight, whatever the outcome. We need a real test, we need this game, and for once, we can say, go enjoy it, Celtic. Throw your punch.
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Let’s compete Celtic on the biggest stage of all.
Doing the same old, same old on the European stage and getting beat is not good enough. A win or a draw will only show improvement. I feel some are getting carried away with the Slovan result.
No 2 teams in Europe are the same. I feel we are another couple of class players away from really competing at this stage.
Hat said, Let’s get the positive vibes and get right behind the bhoys, Diazan and Kyogo to score or assist.
COYBIG
D. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeTcBL7VVbQ&ab_channel=Bundesliga
Just watched the above and, although there were only a few minutes on which to base my assessment, I thought BD played in a similar style to ourselves.
maybe the goalkeeping will be the deciding factor tonight.
….and it`s a cheerio from me as I start my mental preparation for the game.
Cheerio for now.
Keep 11 players on the park please Celtic.
Won’t see game tonight as it’s my home group meeting .
Soooo cmon Celtic Let the people sing,
Give it your all. bhoys
BADA
If you really do have inside information via your son about Celtic’s team hours before the club needs to make this public, can you tell me how you would explain face to face with Brendan Rodgers or Callum McGregor why your actions are in the interests of Celtic?
U19s getting beat 3-0
HJ- I won’t post teams in future, have a lie down….
FFS, European refs dont set out to get Celtic .
That is a conspiracy theory too far, even for me.
HH.
Bada
I am perfectly calm and not in need of a lie down. I phrased my question in non-contentious language.
You do make good contributions on CQN and long may they continue.
I have no doubt Brendan knows exactly how he’s going to go about getting a result tonight but his approach will be interesting. We picked up two draws away from home against very good opposition in his first spell but we also got some wallopings, and there was some thinking that there was a bit of naivety in his determination to stick to his footballing principles.
I dont remember a much more confident Celtic than were seeing at the moment so the temptation might be to carry on playing to our strengths, but Brendan seems to be more determined to get results this time round so it will be interesting to see how he sets us up. He has talked a lot recently about how well we’ve been pressing, so we might see a high press from us early on in the game. CCV being out pretty much knocks the idea of a back 3 or 5 into touch, and we have some of the best pressing forwards in the game so it would make sense to go with a high press from the start, but it would be a very high risk strategy in an atmosphere where if we lose a goal early on we’ll struggle to get back into the game.
Any sort of result would be great but I would take a mature performance from a game like this since we’ve not faced a good team for nearly ten months and not really had one away in the CL for too long. A confidence crushing walloping doesnt help us much, how we go about avoiding it is a very tough one.
not really had a mature performance away from home in the CL for too long that should read.
!!BADA BING!! on 1ST OCTOBER 2024 3:12 PM
This ref has given 68 cards in his last 10 games ,I hope we have learned from last year’s away games
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That’s some stat, looks like he’s card happy
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 1ST OCTOBER 2024 5:15 PM
!!BADA BING!! on 1ST OCTOBER 2024 3:12 PM
This ref has given 68 cards in his last 10 games ,I hope we have learned from last year’s away games
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That’s some stat, looks like he’s card happy
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Exactly. Just stuck a wee bet on us getting more than 3.5 bookings. Decent odds. Especially considering the clown in charge.
Going to be a massive test of character and belief as much as anything………seeing the game out for a good result could be the making of this team.
we’llsee CSC
What is the number of home bookings to away bookings likewise with red cards?
HJ- Excuse my flippant reply HH
oldies but goodies –
champions league tuesday, or as the huns call it, tuesday.
World War 3 incoming,Iran bombing Israel
I genuinely believe we have CL level players. It may be that October 1st is a little too early for us to be fully effective.
Hoping for the best, prepared for whatever tonight brings.
Hope the players do themselves proud. Feels like a ‘no regrets’ kinda night.
Soothing alcohol awaits
I have a very good friend who was in the SAS for years, and he always, always said, the next world war will start in the middle east
35 mins with no new posts??? 😳🤷🏼♂️
🍀🇮🇪⚽️🏆🏆⚽️🇮🇪🍀
Same side as Saturday tonight confirmed.
HH🍀
MELVIN UDALL
This is Tom’s cat Fergus. Tom can’t post as his hands are shaking with nerves.
Up the celts purr
Away from the game for a second.Just reading Graham Spier’s,why he was banned fro Ibrox.During his meeting Gilligan told him he loved,The Billy Boys.” A great song,gets me going,and the fans get right behind it”
From top to bottom.
Mon the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS.
D. :)
engels and kuhn are budesliga level players, they are going to be huge for us tonight
I hope Rodgers has reminded the players of the main thing about German teams – they don’t like it up ’em
👍