Anticipation is building ahead of Celtic’s huge UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off second leg match in Munich tomorrow night (Tuesday). The Hoops trail Bayern Munich 2-1 after the Bundesliga giants were able to grab a victory at Celtic Park last week. However, after an impressive second-half performance at Paradise in the first leg, there is a belief amongst the Celtic camp that they can achieve an historic victory at the Allianz Arena. And speaking to the media ahead of Tuesday night’s match, Brendan Rodgers said that Daizen Maeda’s late goal at Celtic Park last week has kept the tie alive as he touched on the side’s chances in the Bavarian capital. “Clearly we won’t be the favourites for the tie,” he said, “but everything is possible. “The goal that we scored brings a different view of the game. Coming in at 2-1 rather than 2-0 is a big difference. “When you play two-legged games, it’s important that you come in to the second game with the opportunity and the chance. “We had to be smart last week and we’ll have to be smart tomorrow in the game, but we have players who can score goals. “We know we can defend at this level and it’s just about having that courage and bravery to go and play our game. ‘It’s a beautiful pitch, the arena is great to play in and we want to leave everything out there on the field.’ “We know that we’ll have to play really well to come through. “Anything is possible in the game. Anything can happen and hopefully we can produce a performance that gets us the result in the end.”So far this season, the Scottish champions have shown that they can play to the highest level both domestically and in Europe. Allied to that imoressive consistency has been the personality shown by Celtic to respond and bounce back from difficult results, including a heavy defeat against Borussia Dortmund, which the Bhoys got over quickly and got back to winning ways. And that character is something which Brendan Rodgers says will be key to getting a result against Bayern tomorrow. He added: “You come to this level, and you have to play without any fear. “There are worse things in life that can happen than losing a game of football. “We want to ensure that when we come in after the game, we’ve given it absolutely everything. “I look at this game and I’m so glad that I’ve got this group of players who have a great mentality and incredible professionalism. “And if they can go and show that, then we know we’re in with a chance.” Manager’s full press conference Optimism ahead of tomorrow’s match Being the underdogs Players rising to the occasion Importance of players off the bench Lessons from Dortmund defeat FixturesFC Bayern München Vs. Celtic – Tue, Feb 18th 2025, 21:00
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