Brendan Rodgers has told his Celtic players they must play without fear if they are to cause one of the greatest shocks in Champions League history against Bayern Munich.
Trailing 2-1 from last week’s first leg in Glasgow, Rodgers is under no illusions that Celtic will be huge underdogs at the Allianz Arena tomorrow night.
Celtic have never won a competitive match on German soil, whilst Bayern boast a formidable home record in Bavaria.
Six-time winners of the Champions League, Bayern haven’t lost at home in this competition in almost four years. But Rodgers insists Celtic will give everything in their power to defy the odds and dump Vincent Kompany’s Bundesliga giants out of Europe.
Aiming to clinch what would be one of the most seismic results in Celtic’s history, Rodgers said: ‘Clearly, we won’t be favourites for the tie, but everything is possible.
‘I think the goal we scored last week brings a different view of the game totally. Coming in at 2-1 rather than 2-0, there’s quite a big difference.
Brendan Rodgers has urged his Celtic players to be fearless against Bayern Munich in Germany
Daizen Maeda’s late goal in the first leg made a big difference to the Champions League tie
Adam Idah staked his claim for a start in Munich by scoring against Dundee United on Saturday
‘We will need to be smart. But we have players that can score goals. We defended well last week. We didn’t give so much away and we’ll need to do that again.
‘It’s just about having that courage and that bravery to go and play our game. That will be key for us. It’s a beautiful pitch. The arena is amazing to come and play in.
‘You come to this level and you have to play without any fear. We want to ensure that when we come in after the game, if we don’t go through, we’ve given it absolutely everything.
‘I look at this game and I’m so glad I have this group of players that have a great mentality and an incredible professionalism. And they can go and show that.
‘There’s no second chance after this. We’ve got the one opportunity. We’ve got to be clever. We’ve got to be bright. We’ve got to be brave in the game. And we can do that.
‘History has shown that anything can happen in sport. We want to make sure we leave everything out there on the field.
‘It’s something that we want to embrace, that challenge. This is a team that has world-class players. But for us, our collective, we’ve shown already in this tournament that when we play at the very top of our game, we can punish teams.’
Asked if all the pressure and expectation is on Bayern given that they will host the final in May, Rodgers added: ‘Yes, I don’t think there’s any doubt. Everyone will look at this game and us being the underdog. And that’s totally understandable.
‘But we’re still very mindful to be super-competitive in the game. And, as I said, we know that if we can play to our level, then it can make the game really difficult for Bayern.’
The major selection call facing Rodgers is whether to start Daizen Maeda through the middle ahead of Adam Idah.
Maeda helped change the momentum of last week’s game in Glasgow when he was moved from the left to play through the middle for the final 20 minutes.
Asked if that might influence his thinking and team selection, Rodgers said: ‘Certainly, it’s something that we looked at and talked about as coaches.
‘But whatever we go with, whether it’s Adam or Daizen, we still have the ability to affect the game.’
