Greg Taylor has confirmed that the 3-0 hammering of Rangers at Celtic Park is the greatest atmosphere he’s ever experienced.
Taylor was part of the Ange Postecoglou team that ran riot against our Ibrox foes earlier this month. Goals from Reo Hatate (x2) and Liel Abada were enough to take the points and provide us with our first victory in the Glasgow derby since 2019.
However, it also came with no Rangers fans in attendance either. Taylor and co played out the contest in front of 60k Celtic supporters in what was a memorable night for the Hoops and a landmark result for the manager.
Taylor has been previewing tomorrow night’s Europa Conference League clash against Bodo/Glimt, and as he talked up his hopes for another big atmosphere against the Norwegians, he highlighted the Rangers win as his all-time favourite.
Speaking via the Celtic website, Taylor said: “If you look at the recent game at home to Rangers, the atmosphere that night was the best I have ever experienced in my life and that is hopefully the type of atmosphere that we will feel against Bodo/Glimt.
“When you come out to that noise and support it’s such an incentive for us to do well. It puts you on edge but it’s positive and makes you focus that bit more and drives you forward more than you thought you could.
“With this being a new tournament we have the opportunity to do something that no one else has done before. We want to have a good run and to do that we will need to put in a top performance.”
Celtic 3-0 Rangers won’t be forgotten in a hurry
There was just something special about that night from the get-go. It was a fine example of an atmosphere being able to lift players to heights they never believed they would reach.
Remember, Greg was up against Rangers’ on-loan Manchester United starlet Amad Diallo. He didn’t give the youngster a kick of the ball as he bossed his individual battle and kept him in his back pocket. So much so that the Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst had to hook him at half-time.
It was a real coming of age moment for Taylor. He hasn’t always been a favourite amongst the supporters, and at times that’s been extremely unfair. However, after bossing our Ibrox foes at Parkhead, you can see the admiration levels start to increase for him.
The truth is he’s more than earned it. All of a sudden, not many are talking about needing a new left-back in. Whilst it would still be ideal for solid competition, Taylor has made the position his own. There aren’t many who would disagree with that decision either.
As for the prospect of a full Celtic Park tomorrow night, that does look a touch unlikely going by ticket sales. At £35 a pop for adults, you can perhaps see why some have struggled to be captured by UEFA’s third-tier competition.
But even so, there’ll likely be between 50k and 55k at Celtic Park for this one regardless. A fine atmosphere will still be created, and one that will hopefully be enough to blow Bodo/Glimt away.
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