When Bayer 04 take on Celtic Glasgow on Thursday, the roles are clearly distributed. But the atmosphere at Celtic Park could be a problem for Bayer’s inexperienced professionals, believes Michael Henke, former co-coach of Ottmar Hitzfeld.
From Glasgow, Stephan von Nocks reports
From a purely sporting point of view, the question of the favourite does not really arise on Thursday. While Bayer 04 are second in the Bundesliga, Celtic are just above the 12-team league table in the second-tier Scottish Premiership with ten points from seven games.
The 51-time Scottish champions and 1967 European Cup winners no longer exude the glamour of years gone by. “IT CAN ONLY GET BETIS” headlined The Scottish Sun on Wednesday, alluding to Celtic’s 4-3 defeat at Betis Sevilla in their first group game after the Scots had already led 2-0. So things can only get better.
For Celtic are weakening and still pose a threat to the Werkself. For one thing, as clear favourites in their 2-1 win over Ferencvaros Budapest, they were looking for the right way to handle that game for a long time and thus got themselves into trouble with the 0:1 deficit. Secondly, the venue could become a significant factor on Thursday.
Leverkusen are warned
Leverkusen are well aware of the power the Scots can develop at Celtic Park. After all, they brought right-back Jeremie Frimpong from Celtic in January. In addition, Bayer had already reached an agreement with Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer in the summer, before Premier League promoted FC Brentford intervened. They had seen a lot of Celtic games, explains coach Gerardo Seoane. Sporting director Simon Rolfes adds: “That’s why we know the team quite well.” And so is the atmosphere at Celtic Park.
Rolfes warns of the atmosphere in the 60,832-seater arena, which is only called “Paradise” by the fans because of its proximity to a cemetery. “We know about Celtic’s strength at home with the stadium,” explained Rolfes, who is also banking on a push for his professionals.
These will be playing in front of such a massive crowd for the first time since March 2020, when Bayer triumphed 3-1 in front of a 45000-plus crowd at Glasgow Rangers immediately before the Europa League lockdown. 55 000 spectators, including 166 Bayer supporters, are expected.
Rolfes sees the unusual backdrop as the only advantage: “It fuels the emotions and ambition even more. You can already see that in the Bundesliga, even if the stadiums aren’t quite full yet, but there’s a good atmosphere, that the players love it and also miss it. “
This should be even more the case in Glasgow. After all, since 2015 at the latest, Celtic Park has been considered the ultimate in atmosphere, even among the professionals, after superstar Lionel Messi declared after the guest game with Barca: “At Celtic Park, there’s the best atmosphere in all of Europe.”
The consequence is clear for Rolfes: “This is also what you became a professional for. To experience that and also to take it with you. And that’s why I expect us to give it our all here.”
Michael Henke at least questions whether Bayer’s professionals can really use the atmosphere to their advantage. “Everyone knows what this volume level can mean for the opposing teams. I don’t think the young Leverkusen players have experienced anything like this intensity before,” the football coach told The Scottish Sun, “it could boost Celtic’s chances.” In this respect at least, the inexperienced Werkself face their next test of maturity in the “Paradise”.