Forrest clings on to the positives ahead of Bernabeu storm
CELTIC used to be the team unable to beat Europe’s elite away from home in the Champions League. These days, they’re a team who can’t beat them in Glasgow, either.
Since 2013/14, Scotland’s champions have played 23 games in UEFA’s premier competition. A 2-1 win over Ajax nine years ago this month was the last time they claimed three points at home.
Plaudits from big-name overseas players for the Parkhead atmosphere reflect the fact that, for opponents, playing in Glasgow’s east end has become a little too comfortable.
Draws against Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk aside, Celtic have failed to win their last ten home games.
Away from home, a 3-0 win over Anderlecht in Brussels in September 2017 proved the exception rather than the rule. A 1-1 draw against Shakhtar in neutral Poland six weeks ago felt like an opportunity lost.
Approaching a daunting final game in Group F against Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu, however, Celtic remain in a surprisingly positive frame of mind. Three goals from 68 attempts has delivered just two points. Hopes of a third-place finish and Europa League football after Christmas are gone.
The beneficiary of banked goodwill from last season — and a four-point lead over Rangers in the current one — Ange Postecoglou has convinced players and supporters that it’s better to make chances and miss them than to park the bus on the 18-yard line and enter Bear Grylls mode.
A survivor of the night in 2012 when Celtic beat Barcelona 2-1 with just 16.4 per cent of the possession, James Forrest knows how that feels.
‘I’ve said it to a few of the boys as well that we maybe won games where you got one cross, one shot and then you are defending for 90 minutes,’ said the Scotland winger. ‘Sometimes, you can get a result that way.
‘But I felt the boys were well in every game, we had our chances and, sometimes, we just didn’t manage to take them.
‘I think it’s definitely promising the amount of chances we’ve created in the five games in the Champions League.
‘We’ve had loads of chances, and that all comes from the manager.
‘Everyone is buying into the way he wants to play, real attacking football, and the more we put in performances like that then the results will come.
‘I think it’s exciting. Every player wants to play the way the manager wants to play, and I think that will continue as well.’
While Postecoglou has identified experience as key to future improvement, the Parkhead manager hasn’t always used it.
Joe Hart, Callum McGregor and Forrest represent a handful of players with knowledge of how demanding the Champions League could be. With McGregor injured, the reluctance to field Forrest from the start against Shakhtar last month was surprising.
In recent weeks, the winger has shown he has plenty to offer.
‘There are loads of boys that haven’t played in the Champions League before, and they have loved every game we’ve played in, both home and away,’ he said. ‘They’ve seen the way the fans have been as well. For anyone, no matter what age you are, you always want that. You want to continue to be a part of that for as long as you can.
‘Obviously, I am getting older and we are signing younger players, but it’s always a great challenge and I am still working hard and fighting to play for Celtic. I just want to do that as long as I can.’
Pot four teams, Celtic and Rangers were always up against it. Better suited to the Europa League, a third-place finish in the group, banking the money and dropping down into a more manageable competition was the best-case scenario.
Presented with opportunities to pip Shakhtar home and away, the Premiership leaders have been left nursing regrets. Cursing the inability to take them.
‘That is a disappointing factor,’ Forrest admitted. ‘The club wanted to be in Europe after Christmas, I think it’s important for the players, the fans, the staff and everyone else as well.
‘Apart from the results, that’s maybe the biggest disappointment, but we still have the other competitions to go for and we need to focus on that.
‘Obviously, some of it is resultsbased and we don’t go through, we’re not in Europe anymore, but I think there are a lot of positives.
‘Most of the boys haven’t played in the Champions League before.
‘Sometimes, you can dominate games and teams can hit you on the counter.
‘So, I think it’s great experience for everyone, and I don’t even think it has just been about the experience. The boys have shown they can compete at this level.’
Competing is one thing, winning quite another. Just one point clear of a rejuvenated RB Leipzig, Real Madrid need to beat Celtic to secure first place in the group and a more favourable draw in the knockout stages.
For Scotland’s champions, another testing, gruelling night lies ahead in one of European football’s great cathedrals.
In contrast with the opening game in Glasgow, mistakes need to be kept to a minimum. Any chances created this time need to go in.
‘The opposition have been clinical,’ added Forrest. ‘At certain times of the game, they can sometimes kill the game as well. Loads of the players have played international football, so they know that can sometimes happen when you are up against top-quality players.
‘They only need one chance in the game and they can score.
‘So, I think everyone knows that the standard in the Champions League is so, so high, and that’s where we want to be.’