Celtic’s Champions League run ended in Munich, but fans can still be proud of the improvement made this season.
Now, as Brendan Rodgers’ side push for the Treble on the domestic stage, Celtic can look on at the remaining teams on Europe’s biggest stage and how they perform.
Understandably, more eyes will be on those teams that Celtic faced during the league phase and the knockouts, including Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
Celtic locked horns with Villa on January 29, after booking their playoff ticket, and suffered a 4-2 defeat in a pretty open game in the Midlands.
Another team the Hoops faced was Club Brugge – during the league phase – recording a point on home soil thanks to a stunning Daizen Maeda goal.
Now, Villa and Brugge meet for the second leg of their round of 16 Champions League showdown on Wednesday night, as Emery gave Celtic a mention during his press conference.
Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images
Unai Emery’s Celtic warning to his Aston Villa players ahead of Club Brugge clash
After five minutes at Villa Park, the Celtic faithful were fearing the worst because it was 2-0 to the opposition and a possible Dortmund horror show was on the cards.
But, the champions of Scotland have made huge improvement in the Champions League and that was proven by Adam Idah’s comeback goals.
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The Republic of Ireland netted two in two minutes and the scores were level and it’s something Emery was eager to bring up ahead of Villa’s second leg clash against Club Brugge.
Villa lead 3-1 from the first leg and Emery wanted to point out, by using what Celtic did, how things can change in a flash.
“Nothing changes,” responded Emery to Villa’s second leg plans, despite a two-goal cushion. “We are respecting them a lot.
“We have our own experiences. Myself and the players as well in our careers. Everything could happen against Club Brugge – the match can change so quickly.
“We have had some experiences at home against Celtic when we were winning 2-0 and they came back. In five minutes, they draw – how we are going to face, to prepare, to plan the season from now to the end. It’s trying to get our best collectively and individually, something we didn’t achieve this season.”
Adam Idah remains the only Champions League player to score at Villa Park
A lot has been made about Idah’s form this season, when Kyogo Furuhashi was here and then when he left during the winter transfer window.
But, you can’t argue that he doesn’t score big goals because he did just that against Villa and remains the only opposing Champions League player to score at Villa Park this term.
It needs to be remembered that the likes of Harry Kane and his Bayern Munich side have faced Villa, yet they were kept at bay, but not the might of Celtic.
Either way, with Bayern progressing through to the quarter-final stages after beating Bayer Leverkusen, it’s going to be interesting to see how the teams Celtic faced get on as the tournament reaches its conclusion.