‘Game On’ – Carter-Vickers Fires Second Leg Warning to Bayern Munich

Celtic defender Cameron Carter-Vickers has sent a strong message to Bayern Munich ahead of next week’s Champions League knockout playoff second leg at the Allianz.

With Celtic trailing 2-1 going into the game, for much of the second half, the Hoops were on the front foot, causing Bayern real problems defensively, with Daizen Maeda’s aggressive press on Manuel Neuer changing the tone of the game.

For much of the first half, Celtic were too passive and content to defend deep, but tactical changes from Brendan Rodgers in the second half meant that by the final whistle, Vincent Kompany’s side were hanging on.

Carter-Vickers, who so often leads the Celtic defence strongly, was as impressive as ever last night, and despite conceding two goals, the US defender couldn’t really be blamed for either. Carter-Vickers also revealed how he sees the Hoops’ chances of progression on Tuesday in Munich.

He said: (Irish News), “I think in the last 20-25 minutes we grew into the game. I think we showed that we can hurt them and keep the ball at times as well. We have to take it into the next week.

“As long as it’s one goal, it’s definitely game on. For us, it’s probably about going over there and either trying to keep that scoreline or better it for as long as we can, and trying to take the game over there to the dying minutes of that game.

“We know we’ve got that side, so it’s just about on that ball, that belief that we can go and hurt them and create chances and score goals.”

First and foremost, Carter-Vickers is focusing on his part in keeping the scoreline at 2-1 or better in Celtic’s favour. He knows that if he can keep the game level in the second leg or achieve a similar scoreline, Celtic will still be in the tie.

But it will also be about what the Hoops’ attackers do. Maeda showed what he can do when he plays upfront, and with Jota and Yang Hyun-jun’s introductions, Celtic looked a greater threat in attack.

Jota’s threat off the bench was expected, but Yang showed that he is the sort of player who thrives against an aggressive team like Bayern.

With wingers often either happy to break down defences or play on the counter, Yang was able to keep it simple with quick one-twos and intelligent passes. He did his chances of a start on Tuesday no harm, with Jota also keeping the ball well on the other flank.

It was a game that showed why Yang is at Celtic. He is often a frustrating figure, but at the same time, he is a winger who is capable of moments like last night when he set up Maeda from a corner.

There will likely be debate on who starts for Celtic over the next five days, but it was clear that the team who finished the game caused Bayern greater problems than the one who started, despite having a goal ruled out for offside within a minute of kick-off.