CELTS MUST STAND TALL AGAINST TRUE EUROPEAN GIANTS
Gordon admits Celtic were all too easily brushed aside by bulldozing Bayern but insists that a more robust approach could help redress the balance at home
TIME after time, Craig Gordon would receive the ball, look up and see red-shirted giants waiting to pounce. In accordance with strict managerial instructions, the goalkeeper would try to pick out a pass to a team-mate but all too often possession was conceded to a Bayern Munich player that little bit sharper — and bigger — than his Celtic counterpart.
When Leigh Griffiths showed, Mats Hummels simply brushed the striker aside. Patrick Roberts was always available wide right — until David Alaba arrived to stick in a toe and start a Bayern counter. Olivier Ntcham, the midfielder signed by Brendan Rodgers to be ‘secure’ in possession, was repeatedly hustled into submission by Sebastian Rudy and Thiago Alcantara.
Rodgers took some criticism after the 3-0 defeat in the Allianz Arena but won’t be sacrificing his principles ahead of the return in Glasgow.
He may, however, give Gordon more to aim at by picking a team that is physically stronger than the XI who laboured in Germany earlier this month. With his delicate hamstrings close to full repair, Moussa Dembele exploded into life with four goals in two games as Celtic shook off their hangover to defeat Hibs and Aberdeen and is itching to make his first Champions League start of the season.
Pulling the strings behind him is likely to be the rangy Tom Rogic, whose wiry frame and quick feet caused problems for Manchester City last term. Those two might not be enough to earn a result against the Bundesliga champions but, backed by a raucous Parkhead crowd, there is a feeling within Celtic that they can make a better contest of it on home turf.
‘It’s about trying to get the balance between keeping the ball and defending,’ says Gordon. ‘Any time we have got that right in Europe, we have done particularly well. We try to keep the ball in every game and dominate as much we can — but the higher up we go, the more difficult that becomes.
‘We probably had quite a small team over in Germany, small wingers and Griff up front. So there wasn’t a traditional out ball to a bigger player. When Mikael Lustig is playing at right-back, sometimes he can be that taller player but he was playing centre-back on the night.
‘That made it a case of passing through the middle which is difficult in any case. But the space you think is there is quickly gone with the speed with which the Bayern players can close down. That’s the difference at that level.
‘We weren’t disgraced. We did try, especially in the second half, to get on the ball and play. We gave it a go but we came up against a team better than us.’
Dembele carries the distinction of being Celtic’s most saleable asset but he has had to play second fiddle to Griffiths for most of this season.
Fitness rather than form may account for the 21-year-old’s slow start but Griffiths has mined some impressive displays and helped himself to the opening goal as Rodgers’ team beat Anderlecht in Brussels on match night two.
Yet having toiled in Munich and generally run himself to a standstill for club and country this term, it would be no surprise to see Griffiths omitted in favour of Dembele for this one.
‘Moussa is a handful for any defence when he is on his game,’ continued Gordon. ‘He is looking really sharp and back to fitness at the moment, so that is great for the team.
‘But even with Moussa on the pitch, the manager still wants us to play. It’s not just a case of smashing it up there but he is a physical presence and that is something he does bring to the team.
‘It’s good to have that option but we still want to play, we don’t want to resort to kicking the ball up to him and hoping he can do something special.
‘We still need everybody to be available to take the ball and give it to him in good areas if he is playing.
‘The manager says he would rather we tried to play and keep the ball for 30 or 40 seconds, because that’s the time when they don’t have the ball and can’t hurt us.
‘If we go in there, kick the ball and wait to get beat, then that is inevitably what is going to happen. Their quality is going to tell in the end.’
A French Under-21 striker, valued by some in the £20-30million bracket, Dembele is a player of real promise. Bayern have Robert Lewandowski, the Polish predator who sits 14th on the all-time European Cup scorers’ list with 41 goals from his spells at Borussia Dortmund and now Bayern. Lewandowski didn’t score in the first game but his powerful header forced Gordon into the one-handed save from which Thomas Muller tapped in the opener. The Scotland keeper was impressed with the all-round package offered by the 29-year-old at the top of a star-laden Bayern formation. ‘Lewandowski just has a bit of everything,’ says Gordon. ‘He is strong, good in the air, his hold-up play is good — and he scores lots of goals. ‘He is there in the six-yard box for tap-ins and he shoots from outside the box. He is just a real goalscorer, a massive threat to any team and difficult to keep quiet.’ Having conceded five to Group B leaders Paris Saint-Germain on night one, Gordon has faced some serious attacking might in the competition already but he struggles to choose between the section’s heavyweight clubs. PSG comfortably beat Bayern on French soil but since then the wily Jupp Heynckes has been
restored to the manager’s job in Munich and the signs are that the old swagger is re-emerging. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing the next game between them,’ adds Gordon, who will — barring injury or suspension — be keeping goal against Anderlecht when the group stage
concludes in early December. ‘It will be tough in the Allianz. I expect it to be close. When you get to that level, there’s not a great deal between the top teams and, defensively, I thought Bayern were particularly good. They never really gave us much. PSG were a good football team, they kept the ball, created chances, looked as if they’d score more goals — but you look at the two teams as whole and I don’t think there’s a great deal between them.
'They both have a chance to win the competition outright.’
Celtic’s goals, in comparison, are considerably more modest.
As fourth seeds in Group B, the aim was always to try to beat Anderlecht, nick third place and continue into 2018 as Europa League participants.
‘We realise what we’re up against in this group — two of the biggest hitters in European football,’ admits Gordon.
‘Third place would be good. We want to stay in European football beyond Christmas and we have the next few games to make sure that happens.
‘And if we can pick up something at home, it keeps us in the running to possibly nick something and see if we can do even better. But third from a pot-four position is good for any team, regardless of the group.
‘It isn’t very often that the top two seeds don’t go through.’
And so to Tuesday night and the Hallowe’en visit of the monsters from Munich.
Might this be another of those thrilling Parkhead occasions such as the night Dembele score twice in a 3-3 draw with Manchester City last season?
Gordon hopes so, but knows it could just as easily be another PSG-style exercise in punishment.
‘The quality of the teams you’re up against, there’s always the potential for that,’ he adds. ‘But if you catch them on a night where they’re not quite a full strength, you might have a good go — especially at home with the great backing we get on Champions League nights.
‘That’s always going to help drive us on to upset the odds to get a result which no one is expecting.’