Celtic’s resounding Champions League victory over RB Leipzig in midweek has put Brendan Rodgers’ men in with a great shout of securing a passage to the next phase of the competition.
Following the Bhoys’ hard-fought draw away to Atalanta last month, they faced up against one of the Bundesliga’s finest outfits and put on a performance worthy of claiming a crucial three points.
On a night when Parkhead descended into gleeful chaos, Celtic swept Leipzig aside on a night where Nicolas Kuhn proved to be the match-winner with two goals against his former club.
Reo Hatate added some shine to the scoreline. However, the Celtic rearguard of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty also deserve credit for foiling an attack that contained the likes of Antonio Nusa and Benjamin Sesko.
Confidence is building as the reigning Scottish Premiership champions look to cement their place in the next phase and their next mission will be to finish the job against Club Brugge at the end of this month, which would likely book progress.
The Celtic confidence factor in the Champions League
Per BBC Sport, Celtic centre-back Carter-Vickers believes his side’s confidence is continuously growing in the competition as they have upped their ‘concentration and attention to detail’ on the elite stage.
He explained: “It’s our third year now in the Champions League, throughout that time we’ve grown in belief and confidence.
“(Dortmund defeat) was tough, but after that we’ve upped our level of concentration and attention to detail and that’s shown in the last two games.”
On Tuesday night’s triumph over Leipzig, Carter-Vickers added: “We really wanted to put in a performance. It was a really special night.
“As players we’re excited but know (booking progression) isn’t done yet. We showed the levels we can reach, if we can continually do that we’ll be all right.”
Celtic have four games to secure Champions League progress
With seven points in the bank, Celtic will hope to seal their fate in Champions League fixtures against Club Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys and Aston Villa over the coming months.
Ten points is likely to be enough, but Rodgers and company are acutely aware there is still plenty of hard yards to go before progression becomes a certainty.
For now, the group will classify their innings so far as a positive start. As supporters, the collective feeling is that Celtic have the right mentality to ensure no complacency creeps in.
After all, this is the top table of European football. Nobody can afford to take their eye off the ball in crunch moments, so hopefully the Bhoys can grab their opportunity with both hands.
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