It’s time we gave our support a European night to remember
AMONTH short of his sixth birthday, Kieran Tierney was never going to be allowed to join the exodus of Celtic fans who flooded into Seville in May 2003. He jokes that it still rankles.
Stories of that epic run to the UEFA Cup final formed an important strand of Tierney’s youthful adoration of the club. Looking back now, it would not escape his attention that Martin O’Neill’s esteemed side didn’t lose a single home tie on their storied journey.
Fast forward to the present and Celtic will approach the modern incarnation of the same tournament with a very different record.
If qualifiers are excluded, the last home win in the Champions League or Europa League proper came against Astra Giurgiu in October 2014.
In total, 16 group stage or knockout round matches have been played at Celtic Park in the past five seasons. They have delivered three wins, three draws and ten defeats.
Tuesday night’s 1-0 reverse to Anderlecht in this year’s final Champions League assignment was the latest disappointment. While an excellent 3-0 success in Brussels meant Brendan Rodgers’ team still booked their place in Monday’s Europa League draw, Tierney did not attempt to sugar-coat the performance. Not good enough.
He knows supporters are now overdue a taste of big-time European joy within their own stadium. For the left-back, talk of emulating the heroes of 2003 will have to wait. Simply making Celtic Park a venue worth fearing again would be a successful step.
Asked about the run to Seville, Tierney grinned: ‘I am still raging at my dad about that, because he went! Everybody knows how good a run that was and what a special team it was as well. Growing up, they were all my heroes.
‘But for us, we have to just concentrate on the next game and not get ahead of ourselves. We will be right up for it as we are for every game.
‘It is progress for us to get the Europa League place, last year we didn’t get there. Now we just need to make the most of it and play well.
‘I think you need to believe, if you don’t believe there is no point being in it. So we will be going in positive and we want to give the fans a better night, here at Celtic Park anyway. We want to give them something to cheer about.
‘That is what we want, what the fans want, what everybody at the club wants. We didn’t give them it against Anderlecht.
‘When people look back it will be: “Yeah, we got through” but we would have liked to have done a lot better.’
Atletico Madrid, Arsenal and AC Milan are some of the aristocratic names lurking among the seeds in Monday’s last-32 draw. Dropping out of the Champions League does not necessarily mean a drop in quality.
For Tierney, Europa League football will also bring back memories of a formative experience. This was the competition in which Ronny Deila granted him a continental debut in October 2015, when he was pitched up against Nani in a 2-2 draw with Fenerbahce.
‘That was good for me, the wee step up,’ reflected Tierney. ‘I then got the platform to step up from Europa League football to Champions League football at a young age which was great. For us, though, it is about the team.
‘There are some massive teams in the Europa League this season — it is a hard tournament. People think it is probably going to be easier than it is. It is really tough.
‘I played in it a few seasons ago under Ronny Deila and you were playing against the likes of Fenerbahce and Ajax, they are really good teams. There are no easy games for sure.’
Tierney readily accepts that improvement will be required. While a three-goal cushion made the psychology of the Anderlecht game unusual, Celtic failed to show much of the composure or technique required in the upper echelons of the game.
Rodgers’ men had to endure two batterings from the megastars of Paris Saint-Germain this season. Tierney, though, felt a deeper sense of frustration after being outplayed by the Belgian champions.
‘That is probably the most disappointed we have been with the way we have played,’ admitted the 20-year-old. ‘Because we have shown we can compete here against teams like Bayern Munich, the best teams.
‘So we were disappointed, especially for the fans who have given us everything again.
‘But, if you look at it, the fans have at least got one more European night to look forward to. That’s what matters really.
‘We are through but we let ourselves down with the performance. We could have done a lot better.’
CELTIC stars yesterday visited Glasgow’s Royal Children’s Hospital and delivered a special Christmas gift of £10,000 on behalf of Celtic FC Foundation. Celtic has been a long time supporter of Glasgow’s Children’s Hospital and is delighted to once again maintain its strong connection with such a fantastic institution.