ARNE ENGELS is determined to be Celtic’s big noise amid the ear-splitting racket generated by the Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday.
The famous ‘Yellow Wall’ houses 20,000 vociferous fans who generate an awesome clamour as they back their favourites on match day.
Engels, the champions’ record buy at £11million, is ready to face the challenges as the volume is turned up to the max in the Champions League encounter in Germany.
Brendan Rodgers’ men got off the a perfect start in the European adventure with last week’s emphatic 5-1 triumph over Slovan Bratislava at a pulsating Parkhead with 60,000 supporters raising the roof in their acclaim of what they had just witnessed.
WHOOPS IN THE HOOPS…Arne Engels celebrates his first Celtic goal after tucking away a penalty-kick in the 2-0 win over Hearts at Parkhead.
Engels is convinced the visitors will not be drowned out and he knows what to expect after experiencing the din in the Bundesliga with Augsburg.
The gifted midfielder took his first-team bow for his former side at the venue in January 2023 at the age of 19. He played the entire game as the visitors lost a seven-goal thriller by the odd goal and made another appearance as a substitute last season when the hosts raced to a 5-1 success.
Engels said: “I made my debut there. It was directly in front of 80,000 people.
“It was crazy, but it did bring the best out of me.
”It was a 4-3 defeat that day. It was a crazy game. Every time 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3. It was amazing to play in.
“I was 19. I grabbed an assist, so it was a perfect night for me. Augsburg were already a long time in the Bundesliga. They were in the middle table or a bit below.
“So, it’s obvious that Dortmund was expected to win easily, but it wasn’t like that. It was a good game. ”Asked to compare the decibel levels in Glasgow and Dortmund, Engels, speaking to the Scottish Sun, answered: “Here it’s also intimidating. It’s the same noise, even louder sometimes.
“So, it’s nice to play here, when you have the fans with you and not against you.
“That’s also a different feeling and a really nice feeling. It’s going to be really good and helpful for me.”
SEEING DOUBLE…Arne Engels races away in triumph after sinking a spot-kick in the 5-1 Champions League success over Slovan Bratislava. Daizen Maeda is about to add his congratulations.
Engels, who celebrated his 21st birthday 17 days ago and won his first senior Belgian cap in the 3-1 Euro Nations League win over Israel a few days earlier, has hit the ground running since his big-money deadline-day arrival.
He came off the bench to make his first outing in the 3-0 derby victory and followed up with a penalty-kick debut goal in his first start against Hearts.
Engels tucked another one away against Slovan in his debut if Europe’s elite competition and set up Nicolas Kuhn for the team’s fourth goal in the 5-2 Premier Sports League Cup quarter-final triumph over stubborn Falkirk after being introduced in the second-half with the hosts 2-1 adrift.
Looking again at the test of quality and character presented by Europe, the playmaker is prepared to show his value against Borussia, Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa.
Engels added: “Hopefully, I can help. There are also a lot of Belgian guys who are playing in all the clubs that we are playing against.
“It will be nice to see them again. It will also be nice to play against my old team [Brugge] and see everybody.
“We’ll see how it goes. It’s going to be a hard challenge. It’s like every game in the Champions League, it’s at the highest level. They’re all good teams, but we are also a good team.
“So, I don’t think we need be scared of anybody. We just need to play our own game and see how it goes.”
