Brendan Rodgers has moved Celtic forward in the Champions League this season.
Yes, Celtic’s 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie was disappointing, but there is a fighting chance heading to Bavaria on Tuesday night.
Added to that, the champions of Scotland are in the knockout stages for the first time in a decade and that in itself is progression.
Rodgers now has plenty of experience in Europe, standing in that Celtic Park dugout, just like the great Martin O’Neill did during his days as a manager.
From one era to another, one thing that doesn’t change is the love, support and expectation from the Celtic Park faithful.
And Rodgers and O’Neill have one thing in common, as they discussed ahead of Celtic’s second-leg clash against Bayern.
READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers tells Martin O’Neill why he left Celtic in Amazon interview, his response is brutal
Martin O’Neill and Brendan Rodgers agree on the ‘expectation’ of the Celtic fans in Europe
On the domestic stage, Celtic continue to dominate and when that happens, it’s hard to switch over and watch the team spend most of the time without the ball in Europe.
O’Neill put it to Rodgers that when preparing for matches in Europe, especially at home, he had ‘concerns’ over how he wanted to plan for a match compared to what the crowd wanted.
The legendary boss explained that, your plan ‘disappears completely’ because the ‘crowd dictate the plan’ and they want you to be on the front foot all the time when that, sometimes, isn’t possible against the level of opponents you are facing.
Rodgers agreed with that point and stated how making a backward or sideways pass isn’t being ‘negative’, it’s just making the ‘right’ choice, as he told Amazon Prime.
“Talking about how you prepare for the game,” said O’Neill. “I wonder if you have the same sort of concerns I used to have myself here, particularly on European nights and Champions League games.
“You have a plan, you talk to your coaching staff about it, which I suppose they should be in your plan. Then, that plan disappears completely when the crowd dictate the plan because the crowd want you to get forward at every opportunity.
“That’s what we had at our time and I was wondering whether sometimes it can be a job for the players, particularly if you want a bit of discipline. You aren’t going to have the ball as much as you would normally. You are playing a top-quality side in Bayern Munich.
“But the crowd still want you to urge forward at every single opportunity and sometimes you have to play without the ball.”
Rodgers responded: “Yeah, you are absolutely right and that’s always the challenge. You are 100% spot on. We have had that in other games where sometimes, because of the level of the opponent, you might have to play a backward pass or a sideward pass to start a new attack.
“It’s not a negative pass. It’s the right pass to make to create another opening. I thought our crowd was brilliant the other night. They kept with the team.”
Celtic away fans avoid ban at the Allianz Arena
It wasn’t so long ago that Maeda was suspended for the first-leg and Celtic away fans were seemingly heading towards being banned for the Munich trip.
But, not only was Maeda’s ban reduced – and think about how important his goal is now – but the away fans also avoided a ban.
As you can see above, many of them, already in bars, are enjoying themselves as Reo Hatate’s name gets sung loud and proud.
They are going to be as important as ever if Celtic are to do the unthinkable in Munich.
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