Pat Nevin shares what he found ‘astonishing’ about Bayern Munich, it’s not often seen at Celtic Park

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The Celtic vs Bayern Munich fallout continues with pundit Pat Nevin admitting he saw something ‘astonishing’ on Wednesday night.

The Hoops put in a valiant performance in the first leg of their Champions League knockout play-off tie but the quality of Bayern Munich shone through in the end.

Celtic lost 2-1 to the German giants at a packed out Parkhead as Michael Olise’s wonderful finish and Harry Kane’s strike from an inswinging corner enough to give Bayern the advantage.

Daizen Maeda equalled a long-standing Celtic record with his close range header to cut the deficit for his side – but they have it all to do at the Allianz Arena.

Vincent Kompany felt Bayern handled the Celtic Park atmosphere well and did not let the game ‘go crazy’ – particularly in the first-half.

• READ MORE: Stiliyan Petrov on what he noticed about Celtic fans vs Bayern Munich

Pat Nevin ‘astonished’ by Bayern Munich’s dominance vs Celtic

But despite everyone expecting the Bundesliga kings to dominate the ball, Pat Nevin was still taken aback by how much ‘complete control’ Bayern had of the ball.

He has praised Bayern for keeping their cool and giving Celtic respect, while also handing credit to the Bhoys for keeping the scoreline down and then having the belief in the second-half to fight back and get on the scoresheet.

Asked to analyse the game, Nevin told BBC Sportsound: “We all know in the first-half, it was astonishing from Bayern. Utter complete control and you don’t often see that at Celtic Park with the opposition doing that.

“They looked lively as well, they weren’t arrogant in any way and I thought they played brilliantly. Celtic just couldn’t get their game together at all.

“And it could have got ugly, it really could have got ugly. But well done Celtic. When they get half a chance, when Bayern either slowed it down or were made to slow it down a little bit, Celtic hadn’t lost any of their belief.

“I think Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic fans will be very, very proud of what their team did in the last 20 to 25 minutes.”

Stats tell a slightly different Celtic vs Bayern Munich story

Yes, Bayern were magnificent at keeping possession of the ball in the first-half versus Celtic – but while there were some hairy moments, the Hoops were largely resolute.

Across the whole spectrum, Bayern ended the game with just under 57% possession and had a smaller expected goals ratio than Celtic.

Celtic registered just one less shot than Bayern and only 10 less touches in the opposition box.

What can be gleaned from the stats regarding Bayern’s dominance is the number of passes made in the final third of the pitch.

That was far superior to Celtic’s, but probably gives more of an indication as to how resolute Celtic were in a low block without giving up too many shooting opportunities for Kompany’s men.