Last night, for a while after the game, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to say. I couldn’t think of what made sense to say.
Was I gutted? Yes, absolutely. No question about that. I was gutted by that ending because we did not deserve to go out like that.
Was I proud? Yes, I was absolutely, incredibly proud. Coming within an ace of getting a win—even if we had lost in extra time—would have been phenomenal. And even the draw is a magnificent result.
And yet, I didn’t want to succumb to the hard luck story. I don’t want to be the kind of team that gets nearly there but not quite. And so I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I didn’t know if I wanted to indulge in the hard luck narrative. I didn’t know if I wanted to let pride be the overwhelming emotion.
I didn’t know if I wanted to be angry and frustrated. And, in a sense, I am still angry and frustrated because I can see an opportunity missed here. But I don’t blame the players or the manager for that. And it won’t surprise you to know who I do blame.
But I’ll talk about that a little later.
What actually hit me last night, after I thought about it for a while, is that this wasn’t a hard luck story. This wasn’t a case of nearly but not quite. We went to the Allianz Arena and got a draw. We came within 30 seconds of a win.
Had we done that in a group game, people would have raved about it for years. This was more important than a group game—this was a Champions League knockout tie. There is no question that it was a momentous night.
I know there were some people in our media, and I know some of our rival fans, who drew comfort from the Celtic Park result because only after Celtic were 2-0 down did we get a foothold in the game. And they convinced themselves that Bayern simply saw it as job done and could take the win to the home game, which would be a formality.
But we know now from last night that we had them on the ropes at Celtic Park. We know from last night that we genuinely rattled them. We were a real threat. They left Celtic Park that night not joyous, as some in the media said but with a sense of relief that they were going home with a win at all.
Yes, there may have been an element of arrogance, a belief that they would get the job done comfortably at home, and that they didn’t really have to worry too much about the first-leg result. But we shook them that night. We were better than they expected.
And last night, we showed that was no fluke. Last night, we showed that Atalanta was no fluke, that RB Leipzig was no fluke, that the two-goal comeback at Aston Villa—although we later succumbed in that game—was no fluke. Our qualification was no fluke. That second-half performance at home, where for the last 20 minutes we were on top of the game, was a perfect representation of how far we’d come.
We really did come very close to going through.
That’s not a hard luck story.
In the end, we were beaten by a bad deflection in a moment where we just didn’t clear our lines properly. That’s not a hard luck story—that’s a momentary lapse at a time when you can’t afford one. And I’ll tell you what makes that different from the kind of gut-wrenching performance a lot of our rivals were hoping for.
See, I don’t mind being beaten by a moment of absolute brilliance. I don’t mind being beaten in the manner we lost last night. It’ll sting for a couple of days. But at the weekend, we’ll be proudly cheering on our team as they take another step towards the Treble. Any lingering regret over this will be long gone before the season ends. And we will look back on this with the justifiable pride it deserves.
Dortmund was a series of ghastly errors. It was naivety. It was stupidity. It was players not doing the simple things right. I know a lot of people expected a similar result in this game. I feared one. I don’t know that I expected one, because this team has changed, and this team has grown. What I feared was that all the progress and all the talk about growth would be exposed as an illusion. I feared that we would come out of the game thinking “well, we’re back to square one again.”
But something at the back of my mind knew it wouldn’t be like that. Did I expect us to come within thirty seconds of forcing extra time? Of course not. That was beyond any of our wildest dreams. Yet I never really believed we’d end up watching something from our nightmares. It was certainly possible. But I thought the growth was real and all I wanted to see last night was something that vindicated that belief.
Because there has been growth. There has been progress. And it’s tangible. This team has developed into a very formidable competitor.
What made this tie interesting in so many ways is that all those people who said we benefited from an easy draw—even though they ignored RB Leipzig, even though they ignored the outstanding result in Italy—can no longer be in any doubt about our growth, our development. We do belong at this level.
I don’t mind being punished for mistakes. A lot of mistakes were made in Dortmund. They were made by individual players. They were made by a bad team shape. They were made by a managerial tactical decision that was bonkers. That’s why I thought Dortmund was a learning opportunity, albeit a harrowing one.
I thought that if we could correct the mistakes, change the system, and have certain players up their game even 10%, we would see something else emerge.
I’d have been far more concerned leaving Germany that night if we had simply been exposed as a team woefully out of its depth. But you could see where the errors were. You could see where we were too naive. You could see where we were making foolish mistakes. And what became apparent over the course of the competition was that we got on top of those mistakes, figured out what they were, and started to correct them.
To return to Germany for this game brought us full circle. This was where we proved our mettle. This was where we had to demonstrate that growth, that change, that development—to prove that we had erased those mistakes from our game.
And we made one mistake. Just one. And it was a costly one. But I don’t mind making mistakes, because, again, we’ll learn from that. Next year these players will be better under that pressure. Next year be calmer, more assured … and that will get us results, perhaps the sort of results that would have shook Europe as we would have last night had we been a little bit better in that moment.
We left Dortmund on the back of one of the most humiliating nights many of us have seen in top-level European competition. And for us then to have left Munich having come within 30 seconds of a win—well, that is not a hard luck story at all.
That is the story of a team that has undergone a stunning transformation. A stunning evolution, in a timeframe so quick that Charles Darwin himself would be astounded.
There is no other feeling I can talk about except being overjoyed at the transformation we’ve made. I cannot be anything other than immensely satisfied this morning that this team is living up to its potential, that the manager is demonstrating his own stunning array of talents and his ability to move this team forward. I cannot be anything other than thrilled at the possibilities next season holds.
We have something special here. And if we just build on it, we will have something very special indeed.
We will have a team that can give the biggest sides in Europe the scare of their lives next season. And perhaps we will be back where we are now, in a playoff game against a good side, again demonstrating that we belong there.
And if we can do that two seasons in a row, then the last 16 should be the next clear objective. And we should give it our all.
Because we can compete with the best of them now.
With this manager, with this team, with this system … we are finally ready.
We are finally back.
Photo by Sathire Kelpa/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
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I am glad to admit that my own predictions for last night was totally wrong, I thought that Bayern were home and hosed after the first leg and that last night would be a formality for them, not so. I was really proud of the Hoops efforts as we made them work for their draw and, although gutted at the final outcome, I am vert heartened by that performance. However, there is no getting away from it it was the first leg that lost us the tie, a defeat at home cost us big time, it gave us a mountain to climb and to be fair we almost got to the peak of that mountain.
I thought Bayern though, had taken their feet off the gas, they did not play with the same intensity and pressure they forced on us at Celtic Park, they looked as if they believed they could progress without too much fuss and, to quote Martin O’Neil, they looked almost lethargic. A big mistake on their part as we gladly applied pressure on them and almost achieved the unexpected against one of Europe’s elite teams.
I am not despondent, far from it, and I am already looking forward to next season’s European exploits, onward and upward.
COYBIG
I had a bet on us to win on penalties, I really felt we could score if we could get on the front foot. We missed big chances but credit to Bayern, they done what we’ve done to so many domestic rivals, got the job done right at the end. The talking point is the bench, Idah was always getting on for Jota, Yang was a forced sub after Kuhn got injured, players should be able to play 90 minutes but if Rodgers had 5 subs he thought could’ve improved us he would’ve used them. He used 1 by choice. Maybe Bernardo would’ve come on if fit but that’s where we are, 4 players away from being a top side. We’re not far away and we can get there, I hope we resist selling this summer and keep the team together for another crack at it next year. We could’ve bought a couple of those players in January and maybe done the job this year but we didn’t.
The lads did brilliant, fantastic performance. We need to move forward now and not become glorious losers. We have spoke about requiring a striker after the Kyogo sale but I think we still need a midfield powerhouse to protect the back four and we need to look at our defence. We cannot blame Greg Taylor for everything. We tend to lose concentration and poor goals. Bayern did have glaring chances last night and we have lost six goals in the last two games against the poorest Rangers side in a very long time. Yes we need defenders who are comfortable playing out from the back but they need to be able to defend first!
Fine margins indeed.
In another universe we won the game 6-4 with two defensive coaches sacked in the morning.
Bayern are nowhere near vintage — plenty of talent / little cohesion / CB frailties — but they sure have quality and we matched them at times and only missed out on punishing their mistakes.
James F — This season will count for nothing if we don’t win the SPL and qualify for next season’s CL. Plus we also have to overcome our poor recruitment strategy and the poor results it generates.
Schlupp in Aug 2024 would have been transformational. The dogs in the street knew that and if you have squad gaps that can be seen from space you are not in a good place.
Huge banana skin in front of us — sure we have made progress but we still need to learn how to deliver.
Last night’s performance highlights the two poor games we had against weaker teams when we seemed to be overwhelmed by the CL possibilities and our own potential.
Dortmund game / first half — two soft penalties / two schoolboy howler mistakes / two worldie finishes was all it took.
The issue for the club is how we were all expecting it.
If last night delivers anything then it needs to be belief.
We started this season with the fear — support and squad.
For just about everybody — for us in the CL something bad this way comes.
Lose that and we might get somewhere.
Bigger better squad — we might get a result when we arrive.
Are you counting Brugge as one of the teams you say are weaker than us? They’ve just went to Atalanta and scudded them, a place where we barely escaped with a point. They also beat Aston Villa. I agree that we should have beaten Zagreb that was an opportunity missed.
Club Brugge — 30K stadium / 20K crowds / second tier league.
Spent the last 5 years trying to sort out a EUR 100mill build for a new stadium.
On point with their web presence / their community engagement / business nous.
That Club Brugge?
Might be a few things we could learn from them off the field.
On the field at P/head — games like this we need to win.
Main thing about last night — hopefully it lays to rest forever more all the chat about the CL not being for the likes of us.
CL credibility and CL results is where we need to be.
Couple of players away from a big victory against Bayern.
The bench last night should be a wake up call.
Was immensely proud of them last night. Got the tactics spot on and they stuck with it tae the man. They all done really well, tho Ally Johnston for me, was outstandin. Aye we lost in the end, tho they deserve every bit of respect and credit they get and it shows we can compete on the bigger stage. Incredible thing is tae, with a wee bit better finishin in the 1st half, we might even have knocked them out. The signs are, we’re learning from previous errors and lookin like a European team again. We’re out, tho far from bein embarrassed, exactly the opposite.
It was a very good effort last night, and they should be very proud of themselves. They left it all out there, and I’m very proud of them as well. It was a gutter at the end, but we have certainly restored our champions league credentials that’s for sure . Now go and get the treble, if they do that it will be a very successful season.
Our board won’t see this as being a team that’s a few decent signings away from being a proper CL side but as a team we can maybe oft a few players in the summer for good money and still win the SPL.
This Board have no ambition other than creating profit, we saw that in the Jan window.
We’ve proved we can mix it with the big boys, now we’ve got to take the next step and invest in the future. Will this board do it ? That’s the big question. Since Seville and the O’Neil years this board have been quite happy with competing with the original Rangers and since 2012 dominating domestic football. They’ve got to realise what a chance they’ve got here to bring Celtic to another level, and be among the top 24 teams in Europe on a regular basis.
I’m convinced that the new format that UEFA brought in this season, is the beginnings of a European Pyramid style League in the future. A team with Celtic’s history has to be there and to do that we’ve got to step up a gear and at least be in the top 16 or 24 regularly in Europe.
European football is at a crossroads and this board have got to start behaving like a bigger club, they can do that by, rather than shopping at the 2 to 5 million range and selling at 20 million, go up a rung, buy at the 10 to 15 million range and hopefully sell at the 40 million range.
The lesson to learn from the Hart and Schmeichel signings, is that we should also lace big money signings with a couple of older players who have European experience, and who are coming near the end of their careers, whilst being available on Bosmans.
Desmond and Lawell have got to step up to the plate, I mention those two names because we all know who really dictate what happens at our club.
@ micmac. Totally agree mate. This is when the board need tae step up. Signs are, we’re learnin quickly from earlier tactical errors and with this new CL format, which is a lot fairer and suits us, this is the time tae strengthen for Europe, if ever there was one. We’re in a great place domestically, financially and now, improvin in Europe and gainin a bit of credibility as well. Don’t put the financial brakes on and once again stand us static. Help the manager. Show some European ambition and take us forward.
Bernardo would definitely have come on in the second half if fit.
If we had managed to go into extra time we would have had to bring on Taylor and McCowan and possibly Scales as players were exhausted.
Hopefully we can keep this team together for next season plus Tierney and add a couple of quality players .
As Brendan suggested build on for next season, meaning we need to keep our best and add more quality. Am I certain this will happen? Not really.
We need consistency with same group and enhance that so we are not bringing on a Yang in Europe.
We should keep hold of Schlupp, good for couple of seasons.
Still focus on domestic competitions.
Brilliant effort from everyone of our players and coaches. Bayern should thank the officials in both games for their progress. Definate pen in first game and the hit on Maeda before their goal looked deliberate but even if it wasn’t deliberate the game should have been stopped.
Pure FANTASTIC effort by one and all on the night for sure…
Even tho we gallantly lost – It feels MAGNIFICENT to be a Celtic supporter today and every day !
Not sure I would say their goal was a mistake,yes a better contact from CCV might have cleared it yet again it might not have was one of those freak goals that big teams seem to always get.Every player stood tall on the night and everyone deserves our praise.But yes while gutting,we looked like we belong there