Nothing quite feels like a big Celtic Champions League win and fans are savouring Wednesday night’s 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava.
The attitude Celtic showed to ruthlessly destroy the Slovakian champions was a real treat. The Bhoys delivered their biggest-ever win in the group stage of the tournament and wowed manager Brendan Rodgers with the maturity and quality of their performance.
It sets Celtic up very well for the remaining seven fixtures and hopes are high that enough points can be achieved to make it into the top 24 for a knockout play-off position.
Not everyone enjoyed their night at Celtic Park, however. For opposition captain Vladimir Weiss it was one to forget as he got mercilessly booed by the home crowd and left Glasgow on the end of a demoralising defeat.
Former Rangers man wilts in Celtic Park cauldron
Weiss, who formerly played for arch-rivals Rangers, admits he’s made some ‘silly’ comments about the Bhoys in the past and that his side were no match for the Scottish champions.
Speaking after the match he said [Football Scotland]: “(Being booed) was okay, I don’t take these things personally, it’s okay. It’s nice they remember me after such a long time. Obviously the result is not what we wanted. We were expecting a really difficult game, which it was, but I think I had a good chance at 1-0, maybe if I take that the game would go differently, but unfortunately it didn’t.
Slovan Bratislava’s Slovakian midfielder #07 Vladimir Weiss (L) fends off Celtic’s German midfielder #10 Nicolas Kuhn during the UEFA Champions Lea…
“They showed the quality they have. They played so fast, and we just weren’t good enough in in some moments. Obviously we watched some videos of them; I think it’s a totally different team from what I remember. They play fast, modern football and, yeah, it was too much for us tonight.
“I loved my time at Rangers, I was only here for a year but I was very young and I know I made some silly comments about Celtic in the past. I’m a totally different person now but it was fun when I played here. I hoped for a better result tonight, but it didn’t come. That’s football.”
Celtic dish out a Champions League lesson
Wednesday night’s match was Slovan Bratislava’s first-ever group stage match in the Champions League and it was a harsh lesson for them. It was Celtic who showed the confidence and belief they belonged at this level.
The strength of the Slovakians is not really the point when looking at this game – of course, Celtic will have tougher tests ahead. It’s more about the way the players went about dismantling what was in front of them.
Rodgers has instilled an elite mentality in this group and, in Europe in recent years, that has sometimes been lacking. This is a new dawn for the Bhoys in the Champions League and hopefully we can see the team build on a superb opening night.
