2017-10-31: Celtic 1-2 Bayern Munich, European Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 2017 – 2018 | 2017-18 Pictures

Trivia

• Champions League 2017-18, Group Stages
• Matchday 4 Celtic draw Group B – Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Anderlecht
• Celtic out the European Cup competition, still ahead for the EuropaLeaguespot.
• De Bild posted an incredible article on the Celtic support, see below.
• Two silly costly mistakes cost Celtic goals, note that the first Bayern goal shouldn’t have been given for a handball.Forrest had a stormer of a place, Roberts hardly missed. McGregor excellent as was Tierney. Three Celtic academy players make a mark in European top tier football, excellent.
• Bayern’s Arjen Robben gets applauded from the field on his substitution, a grand old player and an excellent one too.
• Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Patrick Roberts misses this match. Brendan Rodgers said: “It looks like a hamstring [injury]”. Bayern Munich reported to be without five first team players for their match against Celtic this evening.
• Celtic were fined 10,000 euros by UEFA for the idiot fan running on pitch v PSG (but thankfully missing his kick on the PSG player). PSG fined 5000 euros for damaging seats. Could have been much worse. So no stand closure, no huge fine, no closed doors match. We have a guardian angel somewhere it seems.
• Next thing on the same day, Celtic fans were awarded by FIFA the best fans in the world award
• Kieran Tierney’s stellar progress at Celtic has seen him rewarded with his second long-term contract extension at the club in less than 18 months.The highly-regarded left-back has signed a new six-year deal which will run until the summer of 2023. It was only in June 2016 that Tierney penned a five-year contract which was scheduled to expire in 2021.
• Former Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has branded Celtic fans ‘obsessed’ as he told them on Twitter: “Leave me alone.” “Just going on record to say Celtic fans are obsessed with me on here. Leave me alone. I don’t care about you or your club. Go away.”
• News: Sadly another terror attack in NY, around 8 sadly killed. RIP

Review

Niklas Süle: “It was really hard work and a bit lucky because Celtic did a great job and their fans gave them motivation”

Kingsley Coman (2023): “I like Celtic Park a lot. We played against Celtic in the Champions League, in Scotland. It was amazing, with the light show at the start. It was very noisy”.

(moravcik67 of KDS)
I’m disappointed that we didn’t take at least a point off Bayern Munich – because we put so much into the game, and deserved to take something from it.

And then I’m amazed that I’m disappointed that we didn’t take a point off Bayern Munich – because they operate on a different level to us, and have a squad of players we can only dream about.

And I’m frustrated that I’m amazed that I’m disappointed that we didn’t take a point off Bayern Munich – because sometimes, on nights like this, we show that we can compete against the very best and make them work bloody hard if they want to beat us, and it’s frustrating as hell that we can’t do it on a more consistent basis.

And now I’m confused.

Fantastic performance tonight throughout the team, but in particular from Forrest, Tierney and McGregor. We did everything that we failed to do in Munich, or against PSG – press hard, stay composed, support each other, move into space and keep plugging away regardless of how difficult it got. It we can cut out those little lapses in concentration, and make better decisions in the final 3rd that’d be good too. I’m not going to single out any player for criticism, because I thought they all played their part in the performance.

Atmosphere was tremendous, Munich fans were excellent and the ref was of a standard that would utterly bemuse SFA match observers.

If ever there was a time for the Celtic board to push the boat out and back a manager, this is it.

(mrs hs4fls… of KDS)
To get the negative stuff out of the way first…

Not signing a centre back in the summer came back to bite us. Again.

School boy defending cost us big time. Again.

The good stuff…

That was (other than the goals) a tremendous performance against top class opposition. We gave as good as we got.

It would be fair to say that I am not James Forrest’s biggest fan, but that was the best I have seen him play. McGregor was outstanding. Tierney just gets better and better. And they are all young Scottish talent that came through our youth system.

Dembele was good. He looks like he is getting back to his best.

The place was rocking when we scored and there was a genuine belief that we could go on and win. We deserved a point as a minimum.

Teams

Celtic

Substitutes

• 9 Griffiths
• 12 Gamboa
• 15 Hayes
• 18 Rogic
• 21 Ntcham
• 24 de Vries
• 35 Ajer

Goals

• McGregor (74′ minutes)

Bayern Munich

Goals

• Coman (22′ minutes),
• Javi Martínez (77′ minutes)

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Forum

• Pre-match http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11045019/
• Matchhttp://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11045263/
• Post Match http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11045275/7/?x=50

MOTM

• Voting Thread http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11045274/
• Result Thread
• Winner –

Stats

Celtic
Bayern Munich

Possession
Home47%
Away53%

Shots
Home12
Away8

Shots on Target
Home4
Away4

Corners
Home5
Away4

Fouls
Home11
Away9

Articles

Celtic 1 – 2 Bayern Munich: Celtic fall short after late leveller
Callum McGregor equalises for Celtic. Picture: PA
STEPHEN HALLIDAY
Published: 21:39 Tuesday 31 October 2017
It has been widely expected ever since the group stage draw was made but Celtic’s formal elimination from the Champions League was no less disappointing for Brendan Rodgers and his players.
They were unable to maximise the opportunity afforded to them against a Bayern Munich side shorn of several of their biggest and most influential names. It was a much improved home performance from Celtic against one of Europe’s heavyweight sides, restoring some credibility in the aftermath of the record 5-0 defeat they suffered against Paris Saint-Germain the previous month.
When Callum McGregor cancelled out Kingsley Coman’s opener with just over a quarter of an hour remaining, Celtic looked set to claim a point which would have maintained their faint hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League.
But Javi Martinez rapidly reclaimed the advantage for the German champions who will join PSG in the knockout stage after Christmas. Celtic most now focus on their bid to retain third place in Group B at the expense of Anderlecht to claim the consolation prize of progress to the last 32 of the Europa League.
The manner of Coman’s first half breakthrough for Bayern would have been doubly frustrating for Rodgers, given both the sloppiness of his team’s defending and the overall positivity of their approach to the contest which had preceded it.
Before Coman took advantage of an amateurish blunder by Celtic’s backline to give the visitors their 22nd minute lead, there had been no shortage of encouragement for the Scottish champions and their supporters.
In sharp contrast to the tentative and almost passive nature of their play when they were crushed by PSG here on matchday one, there was a dynamism and positivity to Celtic’s work which suggested they were capable of giving Bayern a far less comfortable evening in Glasgow’s east end.
James Forrest was prominent in many of Celtic’s best moments. The winger’s pace and directness came agonisingly close to delivering a fifth minute goal for his team as he surged onto Kieran Tierney’s pass and whipped over an inviting cross from the right. It found its way to Stuart Armstrong on the corner of the six yard box but the midfielder wastefully shanked his shot wide.
Forrest continued to cause consternation in the Bayern defence, raising the volume among the home fans again after a clever exchange of passess with Armstrong saw him find space to deliver another teasing cross which found no takers.
McGregor, a little surprisingly selected ahead of Tom Rogic for the central attacking midfield role, showed plenty of willingness to drive forward and he created a first sight of goal of the night for Moussa Dembele. The French striker, making his first Champions League group stage start of the campaign, shrugged off Jerome Boateng’s challenge but dragged his shot wide of Sven Ulreich’s left hand post.
There a sense that Celtic’s failure to secure something tangible for such a bright opening could come back to bite them and so it proved. The warning sign was there when David Alaba and Coman carved their way into the penalty area in the 20th minute with only a well-timed tackle from Dedryck Boyata cutting out the danger.
But Boyata was among those culpable when Bayern made it 1-0 just two minutes later. The Belgian defender allowed a long punt upfield from Ulreich to sail over his head, with Coman pouncing on his hesitancy. Craig Gordon had charged to the edge of his penalty area but his attempt to intercept merely saw Coman nudge the ball beyond him.
Gordon claimed the Frenchman had done so with the aid of his left hand but the match officials saw nothing amiss. Coman steadied himself and rolled home a left foot shot from the edge of the penalty area.
It was a sucker punch for Celtic but their response was impressive. They were on the front foot for much of the remainder of the first half, albeit without ever creating a clear-cut chance to equalise. The closest they came was when a brilliant interception from Alaba denied Dembele a close range tap-in after fine build-up play from Armstrong.
Celtic carried that momentum into the start of the second half when Ulreich was forced into his first notable save of the night, diving to his right to keep out Armstrong’s stinging shot at the end of a sweeping move from the hosts.
Bayern attempted to draw the sting out of the contest, content to try and keep possession in the middle third of the pitch and wait for Celtic to over-commit themselves.
Rodgers tried to inject fresh impetus into his side’s play, making his first change of the night with Rogic replacing Scott Sinclair who had struggled to impose himself on proceedings. Celtic needed a smart save from Gordon, however, to prevent James Rodriguez doubling Bayern’s lead in the 67th minute.
That looked like a crucial contribution from the big ‘keeper when Celtic drew level seven minutes later. It was a superbly worked goal, the outstanding Forrest piercing the Bayern defence with a pass off the outside of his right boot to pick out McGregor who drove a low shot under Ulreich.
Celtic now looked every inch the side with the initiative to go on and find a winner but instead found themselves behind again just three minutes later. Coman and Alaba combined swiftly down the left, the latter’s cross headed home by Martinez who suffered a painful clash of heads with Nir Bitton in the process, both players requiring lengthy treatment.
It contributed to six minutes of stoppage time but Bayern held out with relative comfort for all three points.

Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/celtic-1-2-bayern-munich-celtic-fall-short-after-late-leveller-1-4601639

BBC

Javi Martinez’s header consigned Celtic to defeat and ended the Scottish champions’ hopes of reaching the Champions League’s knockout stage.
Bayern Munich took the lead in the first half when Kingsley Coman pounced after Dedryck Boyata’s hesitation.
The home side played valiantly and were rewarded by Callum McGregor’s equaliser after the break at Celtic Park.

The scoreline was only level for four minutes, with Martinez suffering a cut as he headed the winner.
With Paris St-Germain defeating Anderlecht 5-0 in the other Group B game, Celtic cannot finish in the top two positions, although they have an advantage over the Belgian side in the race for third and participation in the Europa League knockout stages.
Bayern were shorn of some of the key men in their defeat of Celtic a fortnight ago in Munich, with Robert Lewandowski, their goal-scorer in chief, and Thomas Muller, their rangy schemer, both injured.
Bayern’s manager Jupp Heynckes – with an eye on the Bundesliga meeting with Borussia Dortmund at the weekend – also relegated Mats Hummels, Thiago Alcantara and the hugely-influential Joshua Kimmich to the bench.
That said, they were hardly threadbare. Kingsley Coman, James Rodriguez and Arjen Robben were the front three while Martinez, a Spanish colossus, also came back into the team.
Celtic had not won a home group game in Europe in three years coming into the game, a stretch that comprised six losses and three draws – a run that does nothing to add to the legend of Celtic Park as a European fortress.
There was pressure on them to at least perform and take Bayern to the wire by making a proper game of it.
From early on you sensed they had it within them to do it. Their passing was crisp, the intensity high and their threat genuine. Bayern, by contrast, were way below their customary level.
Brendan Rodgers went with a 3-4-2-1 that became 5-4-1 when required. James Forrest and McGregor were whirling dervishes in attack and defence, buzzing about, breaking play up and then roaring forward on the attack.
Up front on his own, Moussa Dembele had a real presence.
Rodgers’ team should have been ahead as early as the third minute, when a lusty intervention from Kieran Tierney turned defence into attack.
Forrest took it up from there, dinking a cross to the back post where Stuart Armstrong looked sure to score, but the Scotland man side-footed wide of the post.
Celtic continued to take the game to Bayern, with Forrest, McGregor and Dembele all causing problems and the home crowd revelling in their side’s display and the feeling something special was going to happen.
There was no gathering dread with Bayern peppering Craig Gordon’s goal or clever movement cutting Celtic open, and indeed the opening goal came from an agricultural punt downfield from Bayern goalkeeper, Sven Ulreich, that should have been dealt with comfortably by Boyata.
The Belgian let the ball drift over his head and Coman was onto it – and around the stranded Gordon, who screamed the Frenchman had handled the ball – in the blink of an eye.
Play went on and Coman threaded a shot between retreating defenders to give Bayern a lead they scarcely deserved.
The response was impressive. Armstrong and Dembele worked a great opening and only a fine tackle by David Alaba stopped the Frenchman from levelling. Next, after terrific work by Forrest in setting up Armstrong, it was Ulreich who denied Celtic.

The equaliser did come, though, and it was hardly a surprise it was Forrest who created it and McGregor who finished it.
The midfielder drilled his shot between Ulreich’s legs but the home support’s collective heart-rate had barely returned to normal before Bayern went ahead again.
Again, it was desperately soft. Alaba curled in a cross from the left and Martinez rose above Bitton to head past Gordon.
For all the improvements in their performance and all the electricity inside the stadium, it still amounted to defeat.
This was a lot better from Rodgers’ men, but it wasn’t enough to keep them in the hunt for the last 16. Now, it’s all about nailing down a Europa League place.