BEAMING Brendan Rodgers thought Celtic were unbelievable as they swept RB Leipzig aside at a pulsating Parkhead last night.
A first-half double from the elecrtifying Nicolas Kuhn and a lightning strike from Reo Hatate gave the Hoops a remarkable 3-1 triumph over the Bundesliga giants on matchday four of the Champions League.
Rodgers’ side now sit on seven points with Belgian aces Club Brugge due to visit the east end of Glasgow in their next encounter in three weeks’ time.
The Irishman has witnessed his players get up off the canvas after the 7-1 knock-out blow against Borussia Dortmund in Germany just over a month ago to perform heroically in a scoreless stalemate in Bergamo and now emerge triumphant after a convincing win over the team currently sitting second top of their domestic top flight.
SEEING DOUBLE…Brendan Rodgers accepts the acclaim of the fans after Celtic’s 2-1 win over RB Leipzig in November 2018 and (below) the Hoops boss strikes a similar pose as he acknowledges the support following the 3-1 victory over the Bundesliga club last night.
Rodgers observed: “After Dortmund, if you had said we would get four points from the next two games against Atalanta and RB Leipzig, people wouldn’t have believed you.
“This is a great night for the football club. The result, the performance, the energy in the stadium.
“The supporters will go away feeling really good about their team.
“The players deserve all the credit in the world. They started the game really well, played with confidence, pressed the game well.
“We played our way in to the game, showed a maturity to get the ball working again and then we get the goal.
“Over the course of the game I thought we were really dominant, both in our pressing of the game and our hunger for the second goal.
“We got that and then I thought in the second half we managed the game really well.”
The visitors stunned their hosts by taking the lead in the 23rd minute when the defence failed to deal with a left-wing corner-kick and Christophe Baumgartner was left unmarked to nod past the helpless Kasper Schmeichel from practically under the bar.
PICK IT OUT…Nicolas Kuhn races away after netting the second goal as he leaves a German rival flat out. Daizen Maeda is about to offer his congratulations.
However, Kuhn had the perfect answer 12 minutes later when he danced and weaved his way in from the right before unleashing a curling left-foot shot from the edge of the box that flew into the net via the right-hand post.
And it was the German winger who handed the Hoops a half-time lead with a deadly finish from six yards after the ball had been worked over from the left with Hatate and Greg Taylor involved in the build-up.
And the Japanese playmaker, who put in a tireless display against top-class opposition, slammed in the third when he showed lightning reflexes to swoop onto a fumble from keeper Peter Gulasci after a dangeroud ball across from Alistair Johnston, another non-stop performer.
Hatate lashed the rebound into the roof of the net and there was no way he or his determined team-mates were going to fail to pick up three points in a storming exhibition of a collection of players all pulling together with captain Callum McGregor the chief orchestrator once again.
Rodgers hailed his players to the hilt and, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “We’ve beaten Leipzig before and won other games at this level, but I think just the quality of their team and seeing where they sit [in the Bundesliga].
EURO STAR…Reo Hatate celebrates scoring Celtic’s third goal.
“They’ve only conceded five goals all season, so for us to score three and have other opportunities tells you how vibrant the team was and how exciting they were.
“There’s no doubt, in terms of result and level of opponent, this is the best one.
“That’s three games in a row we’ve won here in the Champions League.”
Celtic overcame Feyenoord 2-1 last season and kicked off their campaign in Europe’s most prestigious tournament this time around with a 5-1 success over Slovan Bratislava.
RB Leipzig after joined the conquered and now Club Brugge are next to face Rodgers’ exhilarating marvels in Glasgow.
Bring on the Belgians!
FIREWORKS FROM ROCKET MAN KUHN
