I HINK THEY CAN DO IT

Hoops CAN get a place in last 32 if they believe says Ex-hoops defender Andy

ANDREAS HINKEL reckons changing states of mind can help Celtic make history in Leverkusen.

The former Parkhead defender is eagerly awaiting the outing of Ange Postecoglou’s (right) troops in his homeland for tomorrow’s Europa League crunch against Bayer.

The Hoops go into the win-orbust showdown as massive underdogs. When the teams met in Glasgow’s East End at the end of September on match-day two, Bayer ran out comprehensive 4-0 winners.

Now Celtic have to go into the Germans’ backyard and, if the present challenge isn’t hard enough, the past evidence also offers meagre encouragement. Since being unable to defeat FC Zwickau in 1976, the Hoops have had another 11 attempts at winning in Germany and failed.

History may be against Postecoglou’s side but Hinkel says a possible shift in mental state and confidence levels since the first meeting of the clubs two months ago could give his old club a chance to stun Leverkusen.

He said: “Bayer Leverkusen are a very good team. You could see that in the first game in Glasgow.

“But that was a few weeks ago and I’m not sure Leverkusen are having their best period at the moment.

“When you see the last eight games, they only won two of them.

“There was a very tough loss to Bayern which was hard for them and a couple more bad results followed.

“Of course, they’ve great qualities but sometimes there are moments in a season. I can see that Celtic, after the defeat to Leverkusen, have won every game except one which was a draw.

“Sometimes football is in the head and, at this moment, it might be that Celtic have just a little bit more self-confidence.

“They could be stronger in the head at this time.

“It is natural to say that, due to the quality of the Leverkusen players, they are the favourites to win the match because they are also at home.

“But the head is important. Always during a long season, Leverkusen can have periods when they are not playing strongly or being consistent.

“They always have a good team with good players using the counter-attack but at the moment it’s not a bad a time to face them.

“I’ve not seen the games, just the results.

“But it seems Celtic are getting better and maybe used more and more to the new manager – the philosophy.

“The results are showing that they are in a better period than when they last played against Leverkusen.”