Celtic produced one of their best European performances in recent memory on Wednesday night, hammering Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in the Champions League.
Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah were all on the scoresheet to secure Celtic’s biggest-ever victory in the competition’s group stage.
It’s also the first time in over 20 years of trying that the Bhoys have won on matchday one of a Champions League group.
Supporters and pundits are rightly purring about the quality of the performance and victory, with opponents even left in awe of what occurred at Celtic Park.
Backed by 60,000 noisy supporters, the Bhoys turned the stadium into a cauldron of intensity. It’s something the visitors just couldn’t cope with.
Vladimir Weiss Snr on defeat to Celtic
Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Vladimir Weiss admitted that it is “not easy to play here” and lauded what the Celtic fans can do to a team.
He continued: “Celtic have a lot of quality and pace and, when you play as high as we have to play, they take advantage.
“The pressure from the people is amazing, it is an amazing place to play. Celtic were very effective.
“I am proud of the team because we gave 120% to the game. It’s not enough because we played against a good team with very good quality players. Brendan is an amazing coach and Celtic is an amazing space for football.”
Celtic set the tone for strong European campaign
This is just the start for Celtic in this year’s tournament. There’s a long way to go to fully establish themselves at this level.
Matches against Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta and RB Leipzig now come over the next six weeks. That will be much tougher.
However, the Bhoys had a point to prove against Slovan Bratislava. We’ve seen Celtic struggle against that calibre of side on plenty of occasions.
The energy was different on Wednesday night. The intent was clear.
The supporters and the team had a swagger about them, announcing their arrival in a new-look competition and ensuring that the only thing anyone was talking about after the full-time whistle was their quality.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
