Vincent Kompany saluted Bayern Munich’s composure and ignored the “loopy” environment at Celtic to grab management of the Champions League play-off spherical with a 2-1 win within the first leg on Wednesday.
Bayern boss Kompany was involved concerning the potential for Celtic to be fuelled by the raucous 60,000 sell-out crowd in Glasgow.
However the Bundesliga leaders produced a mature show that took the sting out of the Celtic roar for lengthy durations.
Michael Olise’s thunderous drive into the roof of the web from 15 yards put Bayern forward on the stroke of half-time.
England captain Harry Kane doubled Bayern’s lead with a close-range volley from Joshua Kimmich’s nook 4 minutes after the interval.
At that time Bayern have been in full command, however they eased off within the closing levels and Daizen Maeda’s 79th minute header gave Celtic a glimmer of hope.
Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer needed to make save from Alistair Johnston to make sure the guests held onto their lead in a frantic finale.
Kompany was relieved to listen to the ultimate whistle, however insisted he was delighted with the way in which Bayern inflicted Celtic’s first house defeat in 33 video games in all competitions.
“It is cliche to say, nevertheless it’s the primary half of the sport. General, it is a actually nice outcome,” he stated.
“I do know this place, I do know it transcends efficiency typically. We dealt very well with the environment for lengthy spells earlier than it might go too loopy.
“The final 10 minutes we needed to defend and we did that nicely. After all, you possibly can really feel in these moments, if the sport comes alive it’s a particular place.
“The followers have not seen many losses right here, particularly in Europe, so we recognize the significance of the sport and the victory.”
– ‘Another shot’ –
Bayern shall be favourites to advance to the final 16 when Celtic go to Munich for the second leg on February 18.
However earlier than then, Kompany’s males face a vital conflict on Saturday with champions Bayer Leverkusen, who’re eight factors behind Bayern within the title race.
“We’re additionally fairly respectable at house so we’ll look to play on that as nicely,” Kompany stated.
“We’ve an vital recreation on Saturday, so we’ll change our focus to that.”
Celtic supervisor Brendan Rodgers took coronary heart from the way in which his facet recovered from their ultra-cautious begin.
Rodgers is assured the Scottish Premiership leaders can rattle Bayern within the return as they appear to achieve the final 16 for the primary time since 2012-13.
“At 2-1, Bayern Munich are hanging on. That is what we will take from it. We have got yet another shot,” Rodgers stated.
“It is a new degree for lots of the gamers, they’ve executed completely nice. Let’s go and don’t have any regrets and see the place it takes us.
“By the tip, Bayern are completely happy for the ultimate whistle. We have proven we will play soccer and be a risk. We’re nonetheless proper within the tie.”
Celtic handled Bayern with an excessive amount of respect within the first half, sitting deep for lengthy spells moderately than taking the struggle to their star-studded opponents.
Rodgers admitted it was solely when Celtic went two objectives behind that they lastly threw warning to the wind.
“The final 25 minutes, we began to press the sport and also you see what it introduced — aggression. Our soccer begins to return alive after which we get the objective,” he stated.
“With Bayern’s high quality and the variety of objectives they’ll rating, typically these could be out of sight however that wasn’t the case in any respect.
“We have been all the time going to be the underdog. However what must not ever occur is, you could by no means be damaged. We saved preventing and bought a reward for that.”
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