The build-up to Celtic’s big Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund continues as the clock ticks ever closer to kick-off in the Westenfallonstadion tonight.
Celtic have the opportunity to build on their great start in the competition after their rousing win over Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park last month.
However, Dortmund undoubtedly present a tougher challenge to Brendan Rodgers’ side but it is not one that is insurmountable.
That’s according to German football expert, Derek Rae. 67 Hail Hail discussed earlier today that Rae had warned Celtic about Dortmund’s attacking threat.
But now, Rae has said that Dortmund’s ‘brittle’ defence could offer Celtic hope of taking something from Germany back to Glasgow tonight.
Dortmund struggling to find ‘balance’ ahead of Celtic game
Dortmund have just come off the back of a 4-2 win over Bochum at the weekend but Rae says that despite the win there are weaknesses that Celtic could look to exploit.
Rae told The Scottish Football Podcast, “The best German word I could think of would be ‘launisch‘, which would be moody.
“I think that is the way they are at the moment. Yeah, they’re trying to kind of find a balance between the different components of the team.
“In attack, if anybody watched the game against Bochum, which is a small derby on Friday, they’ll have seen this moodiness within the team.”
Celtic told Borussia Dortmund are defensively ‘brittle’
67 Hail Hail also discussed this morning how another expert, James Horncastle, highlighted Dortmund’s ‘chaotic’ defence this season.
And it seems that Rae shares that view with his assessment of the Germans ‘brittle’ backline.
Rae continued, “Defensively, they’re quite brittle, and we’ve seen that in the recent Bundesliga games, even going back to Heidenheim, when they conceded a couple of times. Stuttgart, when they were taken apart, quite frankly, and then Bochum, when they had to come from 2-0 down, could have been 3-0 down to win the game.
“What it tells you is, yeah, they have some deficiencies at the back, there’s a lack of stability, and the sporting director, Sebastian Kehl, has said that the big problem, he thinks really is the, I’ll use a good German word for this one, the ‘restverteidigung’ [residual defence], which essentially is the defence after you’ve lost the ball.
“So the structure of your defence straight after you’ve lost the ball. I think that’s crept into English as well now, people talk about rest defence, but that’s come from the German word, restverteidigung, I think, influenced heavily by Jürgen Klopp, bringing that to the English-speaking world. So that’s been a problem, that structure after they’ve lost the ball.”
Celtic are known for their intense pressing and counter-attacking style. If Brendan Rodgers can combine both successfully tonight then it seems like the Scottish champions have a chance of pulling off a historic result.
Celtic have never won a European tie in Germany. What a statement it would be if Rodgers could mastermind at least taking a point as it would send a message that the Parkhead club are not just in the Champions League to make up the numbers.
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