Bernabeu can’t be a tourist trap for Celtic

Postecoglou’s team won’t stand around admiring Real Madrid

FOR Celtic supporters, the Bernabeu has become a lastchance saloon. A final opportunity to drink in the intoxifying fumes of this season’s Champions League.

Semi-regular visitors to Barcelona, Paris and Milan over the years, Madrid was the venue they wanted. The home of the 14-time winners was the final venue on the bucket list. A stadium crying out to be ticked.

Currently in the throes of an extensive, groundbreaking renovation, the £1billion facelift of one of football’s great cathedrals won’t be complete until next year. None of which prevented Celtic’s travelling pilgrims making the trip in any case.

Most booked flights when their team still harboured hopes of progress to the last 16. Around 1,800 were fortunate enough to land tickets.

Despite five games without a win and ambitions of a third-place finish having already disappeared after the 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in Glasgow, many more are walking the streets of Spain’s capital with no realistic chance of seeing the game in person.

If Celtic’s players approach the game with the same aimlessness, if they turn up and play in flip flops and sombreros, the campaign has the potential to end in ignominy.

In recent seasons, the Parkhead side have sustained seven-goal hammerings in Paris and Barcelona. And while Ange Postecoglou wants his side to savour the experience of a game in the mecca of Real Madrid, he knows that they can’t afford to turn up and play like tourists.

‘Of course the players are going to be excited by it,’ said the Celtic boss in the Spanish capital last night. ‘You think of where some of them were, even 12 months ago, in their careers and where they are now.

‘They probably dreamed of playing in a stadium like this against Real Madrid when they were kids. And I want them to feel that way.

‘You’ve got to be excited because you don’t know if you’ll be here again.

‘But, ultimately, when you’re out there on the pitch — as I keep saying — what you want to do is make sure that 90 minutes doesn’t pass you by because you’re fearing consequences or just trying to survive.

‘Go out there, believe in yourself and believe in our football. And let’s see where that gets you.

‘If you fall short, then you fall short. But you’ve taken in the whole experience. You haven’t walked off the pitch and thought: “Jeez, I reckon I could have done a bit more” or “I wasn’t brave enough”.

‘That’s what I don’t want us to be, you know?

‘I want the players to enjoy it, I want them to be excited — our fans will be excited — and I want them to get the fullness of the experience as well.’

Despite taking just two points from 15 — in the home and away draws with Shakhtar — Celtic’s performances have offered hope to fans that Postecoglou can take the team to a better place.

That perception might change if they sustain a heavy defeat to a Real side who need to win to guarantee first place in the group.

The news of key defender Cameron Carter-Vickers being left at home after the 3-0 win on Livingston’s artificial pitch only added to an air of apprehension over the task ahead. At a demanding venue, Carl Starfelt could be pitched in for his first game in two months following injury.

Asked if his players could drown in their surroundings, Postecoglou shrugged: ‘How do you know?

‘Matt O’Riley was playing at MK Dons 12 months ago, you know. Reo Hatate was in Japan.

‘It’s not like this group of players have been in Europe or the Europa League for the past three or four years.

‘They haven’t had the hardening (experience of) European football. Their test has been this year, that’s it. We’ve thrown them in. So this is another massive test for all those boys.

‘But so far they haven’t let me down, you know? I know we have come short and we’re disappointed with results, but they have gone out there and done exactly what I have asked of them.

‘They have been brave and they haven’t feared anybody. They have been really determined to make an impact at this level. This will be another test of that.’

Despite the setbacks in Group F, despite the arguments over the manager’s approach, despite the missed chances, the goodwill banked by Postecoglou has worked like a protective shield.

Supporters believe that, with experience, the manager can take them to a better place.

‘I think that’s important,’ said the Australian.

‘I think the one thing that we can do, if we are not giving our supporters the results or the euphoria of winning games at this level, is to at least give them hope. You want to build on that. You don’t want it to be just endless hope without the results.

‘I think our fans will be disappointed that we couldn’t get more out of this group and I think we have had opportunities to do so.

‘But, at the same time, I think they can see what we are trying to do and what we are trying to build and they can see the road ahead.

‘If we can continue in this manner then, instead of hitting the post, the ball will go in and we will get them behind us and games will go our way.

‘I think that is important. If I just sit here and say: “Look, we are obviously not good enough and we’re probably not going to be good enough next year either”, and the way we played the games meant we went out there just to survive, then I think our supporters would not have any hope as well as (feeling) disappointment.

‘What it means from my perspective is that I have a responsibility to see that through, so that they are not disappointed at the end of it. Because I am the one that is selling them that hope.’