BACK IN BIG TIME
OA downpour of biblical proportions crashed down in the east end of Glasgow on a mingin’ September night that was more rain rain than hail hail for those parking the family dinghy somewhere along London Road.
It was still two hours before the main event but still drookit dads and windlashed weans braved the elements to huddle at the turnstiles at Parkhead, such was their impatience to satisfy an itch that has been eating away at them for the past three years.
Inside the steeplybanked green stands, a swirling wind howled around this empty cauldron. Nobody that would fill it in the run up to the first Champions League game at Paradise could have predicted the flurry of goals, deluge of drama or storm of football that would engulf them all in this 3-3 barnstormer.
Their campaign of course started in the Nou Camp this month but, given the low level of expectation going into the match coupled with the 7-0 doing that was handed out by Barcelona, it was understandable that many Celtic supporters were looking at this, the visit of Manchester City, as the night to savour their return to European football’s top table.
And what a feast their heroic team served up. This iconic stadium has seen more than its fair share of landmark and mesmerising Champions League nights, and this was right up there with Juventus 2001,
PManchester United 2006 and Barcelona 2012.
In a whirlwind start, Brendan Rodgers’ team simply blew away a City side who appeared overwhelmed by what they had walked into. The ball had barely been out of their half before a stunning piece of invention with a deliberately cocked-up setpiece fooled everyone in orange and purple – aye, orange and purple – for James Forrest to nip in to cross.
The goal that followed two seconds later may have been marginally offside, but the deflection off Moussa Dembele nearly took the roof off a Celtic Park that reverberated with the noise of a thousand jet engines.
Of course, Celtic would twice take the lead again and each time the deafening cacophony booming out through the rain would get louder and louder as the ball whizzed by the shaky Claudio Bravo in the City gol.a EP GUARDIOLA stated the previous night that he witnessed Celtic’s high-tempo play that did the damage against Rangers, anticipating a similar start in this Battle of Britain. If only his players did the same.
Time and time again the Scottish champions broke at pace and in numbers to catch out their opposition. Their second was the product of a majestic break through the middle by the impressive and yet enigmatic Tom Rogic followed up by a lung-bursting supporting run from the Bhoy Tierney, but more on him later. The third stung the visitors within the first 30 seconds of the second period.
It was a showing from a team, embarrassed in Barcelona on Match Day No 1, that was determined not to let this occasion pass them by.
Perhaps it was with the belief of what the near future could hold for a collective that, under Rodgers, looks unstoppable domestically. Or maybe it was something else.
As the song goes, this is a club that knows its history. With that in mind, it was a poignant moment that as the rain dispersed and the clouds cleared overhead, a banner was unfurled in the crowd with ‘Celtic 2 Zurich 0’ in a nod to the game that kick-started the road to Lisbon 50 years ago to the day.
It was a core group of local talent that hauled Celtic into the record books on that momentous campaign.
While it was more of an eclectic mix that stifled a star-studded City team, the Scottish influence coursing through the green and white ranks was pivotal on a memorable night.
Forrest’s inch-perfect cross for the opener set Celtic on their way and while he may not have seen much of the ball before he was taken off with 11 minutes to play, he provided a great out ball as the visitors ramped things up.
Scott Brown marshalled the midfield with a dogged fearlessness, Craig Gordon saved a game-winner in the dying seconds from an Ilkay Gundogan shot, and substitutes Stuart Armstrong and Leigh Griffiths both played their part.
However, the spirit of ’67 undoubtedly lived on in the form of 19-year-old left-back Kieran Tierney.
The young Celtic fan who was a ball boy in that victory over Barcelona four years ago has been living his own boyhood dream since bursting into the team around 18 months ago. If not already, this would be the night where he would come of age.
FACED with the unenviable task of trying to keep Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling quiet, on 21 minutes the modest teenager would trigger a euphoric outpouring emotion just like Tony Watt did that night against Barcelona.
His shot may have taken a deflection in off Sterling, but it was a moment that epitomised everything that makes him worth the hype. While Watt’s light has faded over the years, the commitment and attitude shown by Tierney – demonstrated in his 50-yard burst to get on to Rogic’s lay off – shows there will be years of Champions League football ahead for this young man.
The days of ’67 may be gone, but this was a night to celebrate for Tierney and Celtic, and a night for singing in the rain.