“We will do everything to get a result” - Celtic star gives fans a rallying Munich battle call
Ethan Barlow gets Arne Engels take on Bayern away
Celtic will travel to Germany next week with a one goal deficit after suffering their first home Champions League defeat in seven matches.
Daizen Maeda’s 79th minute header has given Brendan Rodgers’ side a fighting chance heading to the Allianz Arena, where they’ll face Deutschland's record champions and six time UCL holders.
The Bavarian outfit looked like they may pull away from ‘The Bhoys’ after Michael Olise’s rocket and Harry Kane’s volley either side of the interval. But the home side battled their way through the adversity of a ruled-out goal and a controversial penalty decision to possess the momentum heading into Tuesday’s showdown.
Celtic’s first half stand off-ish approach looked to have rewarded a nervy ‘Paradise’ crowd with a half-time stalemate but a moment of magic from Vincent Kompany’s summer recruit earned the visitors a 45th minute lead and well and truly deflated a once 129 decibel audience.
If Bayern’s first goal was deflating, Kane being unmarked in the Celtic six-yard box from a corner was bursting. A comical attempt to defend the German’s set piece left one of the world’s best strikers with one of his easiest UCL goals.
Just when the tie looked dead and buried, things took a turn. Out of nothing, Jesus Gil was sent to the VAR monitor to review Dayot Upamecano’s challenge on Arne Engels. After the phase of play was initially flagged for offside the Spaniard never casted a decision on the incident leaving 60,000 and more at home in the dark as to where his thoughts lied, with the check lasting several minutes. When the referee eventually moved towards displaying his preference it wasn’t a stretch for Celts’ to believe it wouldn’t go their way, as it seemed far from their night.
But for a portion of the 90, it was. Celtic commanded the game beyond this point leading to Maeda’s seventh goal in 4 games. There was other chances which fell ‘The Hoops’ way leaving Kompany’s team having to whether an audio-based storm.
Most people that gave the Scottish champions a chance of winning the tie believed a home win was a necessity but after how the event played out there are still supporters a little optimistic about handing last year’s semi-finalists an upset to remember.
Speaking to Celtic Underground, Arne Engels admitted they’ll need everyone on the pitch and in the stands on their A-game, he said: “We also need them there. It will be a lovely atmosphere. We all want the same thing so we’ll all be together there.”
Engels has more experience against Bayern than any of his teammates, meaning in his early 20’s he’s one of the most experienced campaigners in this tie. Since signing from Augsburg in August, the Belgian has split opinion but he feels Celtic is the right place to move his career forward, he said: “I’m playing well, I think. There is still some things I need to improve but I'm only 21 –years-old so that’s normal. I think I’m showing I’m capable of doing things on this level and against really good opponents.”
Celtic might not win in Munich but if they can put together a slightly more complete performance in the second leg they’ll give themselves a decent chance. Going toe-to-toe with Bayern for 180 minutes would leave the vast majority of the support pleased with the club’s progression on this stage.