‘No fear’ – Adam Idah reminds Celtic of club stature as he makes Champions League demand

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic were drawn against Bayern Munich in this season’s Champions League knockout playoff tie.

The Hoops discovered their fate in the draw earlier this morning with a glamour tie guaranteed against either the Bundesliga giants or multi-time tournament winners Real Madrid.

Brendan Rodgers‘ side knew they were in for a difficult challenge regardless of their opponent but the prospect of both matches had Chris Sutton buzzing and Micah Richards giddy at the thought.

Now that the February 11/12 and 18/19 matches have been revealed, it allows the Celtic squad to take stock of their accomplishments in the competition so far.

They may be tempted to look at the Munich tie as unwinnable considering the financial differences between the two clubs and Bayern’s recent history in Europe.

But striker Adam Idah has moved to remind Celtic just exactly who they are, too.

• READ MORE: Vincent Kompany relishes ‘hot’ Celtic vs Bayern Munich Champions League prospect

Adam Idah says Celtic are ‘massive’

Fear has never been in the club’s vocabulary and it won’t be added there now, says the Irishman.

Despite a heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund back in October, Celtic have equipped themselves well in the newly revamped League Phase and earned their spot in the latter stages.

Idah hit three goals in the competition including a brilliant brace against Aston Villa in the 4-2 midweek defeat down south.

And the attacker has found his confidence.

He feels his teammates have learned from the Dortmund hiccup and Idah wants the squad, the fans and everyone around Europe to sit up and remember how massive Celtic is as a club.

That should calm any nerves in Germany.

What Idah told Celtic teammates about learning in Champions League

“I think that’s probably the biggest learning curve we’ve got from Dortmund,” Idah said. “When you play these big teams, you might go in and get a bit timid.

“It’s a big team, but so are Celtic. We’re one of the biggest clubs in the world and I think people forget that sometimes.

“We’ve got unbelievable players and I’m sure other teams look at us and think the same thing. We can’t be afraid to play these teams.

“I think the club’s that big that we’re built to play against the top teams and that’s the level we all want to be at, so I don’t think there’s any need to be fearful of anyone.

“I think from that Dortmund game, when we did go down, it was almost that fear of we don’t want to play football and I think on Wednesday, it was ‘Right, we’ve had a bad start, but we can get back into it?’ And we did.

“I think at this level, that’s where you need to be fully on for 90 minutes and we probably lacked that in the second half a bit, but it’s another learning point for us to take the positives from it.

“I think that’s what everyone wants to do. It’s to play in the Champions League first and then to get the goals, it’s an added bonus.

“Wednesday was great for me personally, the result was obviously disappointing, but I think this campaign has been fantastic.

“If you said to us at the start of the season we’d be here, we’d bite your hand off it. I think the boys have been fantastic. It’s time for us to push on now.

“We know the level this is. We’ve got full confidence and belief that we can go and achieve good things.”