The Scottish media are left to lament the “hiding” that never materialised, as Celtic come of age in Europe’s premier competition
Eric Knott 
Rob Casey - SNS Group/SNS Group/Getty Images
In the build up to last night’s scintillating Champions League win for Celtic, the SMSM were doing their best for German side RB Leipzig.
On Saturday, I highlighted the Herald’s piece from Mark Walker, who believed Celtic would be on the receiving end of an overdue “thrashing” from Leipzig.
Yesterday, Joe McHugh over on VideoCelts, highlighted Alasdair Lamont of the BBC’s rallying cry on behalf of Leipzig.
It almost appeared as if Lamont felt sorry for RB Leipzig and their troubles in this season’s Champions League.
In the midst of his empathy, he felt Celtic were an easy mark for the side that sits second in the Bundesliga.
So, as the media sharpened their pencils in anticipation of another thrashing for Celtic, Brendan Rodgers was busy tearing up the script.
And boy, did he tear it up last night.
Aside from a 13 minute period of dominance following their goal from a corner kick, Leipzig were made to look second best in every aspect of their play, and in every department.
Whether they were awestruck by the atmosphere, or just simply awestruck by the fact that Celtic were tearing them to pieces at will, is hard to tell.
I suspect it was a combination of both.
In the end, they looked out on their feet, as every Celtic player to a man, ran himself into the ground until the final whistle blew.
They just had no answers to a dominant Celtic side.
Reo Hatate’s reaction at the end said it all.
He lay on the Celtic turf gasping for breath after putting in the shift of a lifetime.
It was a night where he, and every other Celtic player came of age.
A night where all of the ghosts of Champions League’s past were laid to rest.
Those fine margins that prevented us from getting the rub of the green and scoring crucial goals against top sides in the past?
Well, they shifted from negative into positive last night.
And with them, shifted the Celtic player’s belief that they belong on this stage.
That they are more than good enough to compete at this level.
Brendan Rodgers has instilled that belief in them.
After Dortmund, we thought lessons were never going to be learned.
We bemoaned the fact that Brendan Rodgers was not willing to change his approach to these games.
Without realising that he convincingly pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes when it came to how he would approach our game in Bergamo a couple of weeks ago.
He is a master of manipulation of the mindset.
He makes you believe one thing, and then does the complete opposite.
In his post match interview, he spoke openly about how his players mastered their approach to last night’s game.
How they followed his instructions to the letter.
Instructions where he asked them to mix the high press with a defence similar to that which we witnessed in Bergamo.
As footballing displays go, when you fully understand the thought process behind it, it was poetry in motion.
In four games in this season’s Champions League, we have embarked on a journey which has taught us many valuable lessons.
And we have learned from every one of those lessons.
Through our learning, we have evolved into a side that is more than capable of competing at this level.
Yes, there is no doubt that some of those old worries crept in last night after RB Leipzig got the opener against us.
For 13 shaky minutes, we came close to conceding a second goal to them.
Had that happened, I believe I would be writing a completely different story this morning.
Lamenting once again what could have been.
Fine margins….
Which usually always went against us.
But for a change, the top tier side we were up against got a taste of that instead.
Once we weathered that short storm, we got back into a similar stride to that which we began the game with.
And from nothing, Nicholas Kühn produced a thing of beauty.
For those of you out there who think he was trying to cross the ball, look again.
Look at his body language and his poise when he released that shot.
He saw his opening and he took it, he knew exactly what he was doing.
When the ball nestled in the far right corner of Péter Gulácsi’s net, Nicholas Kühn began the process of exorcising the demons of a difficult footballing journey up to this point.
So difficult, that German media outlet Bild couldn’t even remember who he was before last night.
The below comment will only serve to motivate Kühn to elevate himself to higher levels than last night:
In Glasgow, Leipzig was humiliated by a no-name German professional – who, of all things, was trained in RB’s youth team. Nicolas Kühn (24/played in Leipzig from 2015 to 2018) decided the match with a brace. Kühn also played for FC Bayern’s youth team for two years in the past.
No-name German professional?
You’ll remember his name now.
If his first goal began the process of exorcising the demons of the past, his second blew them high into the Glasgow night sky!
Usually a man of limited expression, Kühn well and truly expressed his feelings when he rifled home his second of the night on the stroke of half-time.
However, the level of grit, determination and pressing that led up to that second goal was a sight to behold.
As the Leipzig defence almost nonchalantly proceeded to try and play their way out of defence, Celtic made them look like absolute fools by robbing them blind.
When Reo Hatate eventually rounded a stupefied Leipzig defence to send in a low cross, which Greg Taylor then prodded into Nicholas Kühn’s path, Paradise erupted.
It was the ultimate sucker punch on the stroke of half-time.
And it seemed like the roles were reversed.
Weren’t we doing to Leipzig the very thing that seemed to always catch us out in the past?
Needless, foolish errors?
I was sort of in disbelief as I watched.
I suppose that comes from years of being caught out like that in the past.
It was nice for the shoe to be on the other foot for a change.
When we emerged in the second half, it was clearly evident we had the bit between our teeth.
Apart from a fantastic Kaspar Schmeichel save from a low volley from Christoph Baumgartner, Celtic controlled the second half from start to finish.
As the half progressed, both the fans and the players sensed that something special was in the offing.
When the third goal came, it was something special.
As the excellent Callum McGregor was harried and pressured in his own half for the ball by two Leipzig players, he played his way out of trouble and began the move that led to third.
A string of precision passes brought the ball to the feet of Nicholas Kühn, who then played a neat pass to Alistair Johnston.
Johnston sent in a low cross which Gulácsi failed to hold onto, and the stellar Reo Hatate was on hand to prod it into the roof of the net.
It was no more than Celtic deserved.
In reality, there was no player I could flaw last night.
Every one of them to a man stood up to be counted.
Even in the last 15 minutes or so, during that time where things can get dangerous and concentration can levels drop, our game management was flawless.
We kept the ball, reducing Leipzig to the role of spectators.
And we kept running at them, to the point where we had the ball in the net on a fourth occasion, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
We came of age on Europe’s top stage last night.
In all my years of watching our club compete in the Champions League, I’ve never seen a performance as complete as that.
One in which we controlled the majority of the play.
And controlled it comfortably.
Dare I say it, it was almost on a par with that special night in November 2012.
We only had 11% possession that night, last night we had 61% possession.
That speaks volumes.
We had 17 shots, with 5 on target.
And we completed 649 passes in comparison to Leipzig’s 412.
They are stats to remember.
We could easily have had 5 or 6 goals last night, that wouldn’t have flattered us.
I still have to pinch myself while typing that.
The media has very much changed their tune this morning.
All of a sudden singing our praises and preaching how much we’ve helped the Scottish European co-efficient.
They change their tune to suit the narrative.
A few days ago, they were gleefully waiting for us to be humiliated once again.
Over at Ibrox, they are in dread of facing us on December 15th.
Follow follow is in meltdown after witnessing the way we played.
They should be.
All the cheerleading in the world from the media won’t change the fact the Ibrox side are no match for us presently.
When Red Bull Leipzig are not even a match for us, how can they think they will be?
Last night Celtic Park once again became the fortress it was on European nights in the early part of this century.
Nobody is going to think we’re a tourist attraction anymore.
Our next two home games are crucial.
We need to play those with the exact same attitude we played with last night.
Do that and who knows where this European adventure will take us?
And what an adventure it’s turning out to be.
We can dare to dream now.
Excellent piece of writing. ☘️☘️
We were to a man outstanding last night Eric, not one player put a foot wrong. I’ll be honest I was expecting to lose the game and when we went down 0-1 I thought here we go again but to their immense credit they rode out Liepzig’s fifteen minute dominant period and overran the second best team in the Bundesliga and made them look like an ordinary side. Kuhn was immense, Schmeichel had three great saves but I thought Reo was unplayable last night and that that was the most complete performance from a Celtic side in the CL that I’ve seen since the Martin O’Neil days. We’ve got to take this into the next three very winnable games. Brugge and Zagreb are good sides but I expect us to beat both teams and Young boys too, the acid test will be Villa in Birmingham if we can get a point or a win down there then we’ve a chance of going deep in the tournament but we’ll need to stay injury free and get a couple of favourable draws. What a time to be a Celtic supporter we’re on the crest of a wave just now and I’m not suggesting we could win the CL but we can take a few scalps along the way and nobody will want to draw us in the knockout stages that’s for sure HH.
Great opinion on a great night that takes you back to the European Cup days when celtic park was a fortress hopefully we can continue with more wins at home
Once again great piece that you have written
Hail Hail
Coybig
Cheers
Robert cairns
I am of the opinion that certain presenter types in Scotland just cannot stomach seeing Celtic FC do well on and off the park .The TNT host – Ms Dodds – gave the distinct impression of being totally underwhelmed and disinterested after last night’s heroics against RB Leipzig who sit second top in the Bundesliga currently . Some of her questions and reactions to post game success were right out of the ” why am I here ” ,social media posts . All done in a cheap ,tiny , makeshift artificial box as a studio with theRangers coloured lighting and signage inside for further spite .The only thing missing was McInnes as a guest ‘ expert ‘ ahem …..
Have to agree, it was the most complete euro performance I’ve ever seen from Celtic, and my first ever game I attended was the one with the famous line “and the Poles got 4!!!!!”, my young self was in tears that night!!!
I have to admit though, I thought it was a cross, he hit a cross that was headed out for a corner a few moments before with the same body movement and language, compare that to his finish against Aberdeen from the same place. Although, its awesome that we’re debating whether he meant the first goal, instead of the darkened room inquests of days gone by!! I was starting to doubt we were this years dark horses, not anymore!!!
I take it Aberdeen and that lots thanks are in the post for bumping Scotland up two coefficient places and giving both them something to play for this season!!
Big shout out to Man v Foods Adam Richman, that Yank knew his Celtic!!!!
Perfectly put Eric, the best performance I’ve seen from celtic in Europe for a while, the hacks will have been giving us false praise through gritted teeth.
Not only did we destroy Leipzig we destroyed the drooling hacks who hoped we were onto a hiding.
Hope the large bitter pill they have to swallow goes down fkn sideways and chokes them.
HAIL, HAIL .
I’m old enough to have been at the Celtic v red star Belgrade game when we destroyed them 5-1 jinkys greatest game IMO red star were also a top European side but Celtic made them look ordinary.last night reminded of that brilliant display every time jinky got the ball the crowd seemed to get on their toes and the expectation of what he would do next with it was amazing I can still feel my auld dad’s hands grip my shoulders when he received the ball unfortunately we lost him a few years ago at the grand old age of 94 Celtic means so much to us all so hopefully last night will be the start of something great a truly wonderful performance but all at Glasgow Celtic as Brendan said we will write our own story ☘️
Great piece Eric,on point as per.One thing I would like to add if I might.We must be the only country in Europe where the media actively work against one of the country’s clubs in European competition.Wonder why that is???
What a game, what a result. Home wins were always going to be key to progression and the result last night sets an unbelievable standard. Even with the 3 points in the bag, I was most impressed by the attitude and character of doing it despite going behind. In the past, we may have crumbled and chased a game – but the response and the character shown to get back into the game and then dominate was magnificent. This performance suggests a corner has been turned and will instill so much belief amongst the squad. The rallying cry as the CL theme began still gives me shivers just thinking about it. Parkhead to become a fortress once again.
As a longtime Celtic supporter, I haven’t cut corners in my many occasions to be critical of their play whenever I considered it to be substandard. Since Bredan Rodgers ‘ return, I have been waiting impatiently for the emergence of real signs of progress and improvement to make some sort of impression at European level. Confidence and consistency being the essential requirements.
On Tuesday night the first 10 minutes allowed me to remain relaxed, because I was encouraged by what I saw, a settled form of play. However, my heart sank when conceding the goal. Not another Dortmund and dishonest hacks lacking their lips at the prospect of a repeat embarrassment! What I saw after that was a performance so long awaited; confidence, for sure, superb game play and individual performances. Knowing that Celtic were capable of inflicting any opposition with pure football. It has been a long time coming. It’s printed now but yet to be engraved.