After his first defeat in five visits to Parkhead, RB Leipzig coach Marco Rose traipsed silently towards the team bus, head down, trailing a bag behind him.
Passing Callum McGregor, he paused just once. As the Celtic captain chatted to journalists on the touchline, the German ruffled the midfielder’s hair and quietly whispered a ‘well done, skipper’.
Simple, sincere and magnanimous, the gesture acknowledged McGregor’s influence on Tuesday’s pulsating Champions League victory.
While Nicolas Kuhn claimed man of the match and the outstanding Reo Hatate posed for pictures on the touchline with his mother and family – on a rare visit from Japan – the 31-year-old Scot’s role in his club’s biggest European scalp since Barcelona in 2012 was immense.
When Brendan Rodgers returned for a second spell as manager, a night like this was what he had in mind. Meeting his captain for dinner in Santa Ponsa last year, the two men discussed their mutual goals and targets.
Restoring a reputation battered by years of failure in European competition was top of the list.
‘We’re ambitious people, and we want to strive for the best and push this club as much as we can and as far as we can,’ says McGregor now.
‘Yeah, that was the type of conversation we had. That’s where we want the club to be and it makes it all worth it when you have nights like Tuesday and you can go home and you can be proud of yourself.’
At the halfway stage of the new tournament format, Celtic sit tantalisingly close to securing a play-off, possibly more.
Victory over the team currently lying second in the Bundesliga elevated their tally to seven points from four games. It was only the second time in 29 Champions League games that they had conceded the opening goal and avoided defeat.
While criticism of the seven-goal thrashing in Dortmund was savage – and justified – that result now looks like the outlier. Bouncing back to take four points from games against established teams from Italy and Germany has shored up Rodgers’ reputation as an elite coach – and added another few million to a club bank vault which is already straining to contain the £75million inside.
After four games in the competition, the Parkhead side have already raked in around £4.2million for two wins and a draw. That figure takes no account of the £15.7m they’ve already raked in for qualification or further bonuses.
All told, they’ve probably banked around £31m, with gate receipts and the prospect of reaching the last 16 for the first time in 11 years potentially add another £9m to the pot.
It’s a tall order, but reaching the knockout stage is not impossible. By the end of Tuesday night’s game, Celtic sat 13th in the 36-team league, above the likes of Real Madrid and AC Milan.
While that will change and fluctuate, one more win against Club Brugge or Young Boys would all but secure a place in the play-offs at least and another £842,000. Ten points should be the target, anything more a bonus.
The money matters less to fans than watching a good team. After years of angst over a perceived lack of boardroom ambition in Europe, they’re now seeing the rewards of a player-trading model starting to deliver as many results on the pitch as it does in the annual accounts.
Sold by RB Leipzig at the age of 18, Kuhn looks a different player to the unconvincing winger who pitched up at Celtic with a persistent tooth problem in January 2023.
Hatate, meanwhile, dovetailed with McGregor and Arne Engels in a midfield three partly responsible for a team passing accuracy rate of 92 per cent.
‘We tried to press Celtic high up the park, but they always had an answer to us,’ said veteran Leipzig midfielder Kevin Kampl.
‘They didn’t allow themselves to be dispossessed and they kept the ball. We were always a step too late against them and we had to run all night. It actually felt like we were continuously running all game, like we were in a marathon.’
When Kampl’s corner found its way through to goalscorer Christoph Baumgartner after 23 minutes, the Germans had Celtic on the ropes. Kuhn’s two goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half turned the game on its head.
‘It took us five minutes or so to deal with the atmosphere and I thought we had it under control until they equalised,’ added Kampl.
‘The double blow before half time brought us back to earth and then, of course, the atmosphere came back. Celtic didn’t panic when they were behind. I have to say, I was very impressed by them.’
When his side lost seven goals in Dortmund, Rodgers incurred some flak for his dogmatic approach to staying true to his principles. It turns out there’s a reason why the Northern Irishman earns £3m a year, while the rest of us never make it beyond the latest version of Football Manager.
Impressing the need for his players to defend effectively by passing and pressing the ball while staying calm, the build-up to the third goal – triggered by McGregor from his own half – was a case in point.
‘The last two performances against Atalanta and Leipzig have been where we want to be,’ added the captain.
‘It’s probably as good as we’ve been in terms of controlling the ball against top-quality opposition.
‘So we can be proud of ourselves and, hopefully, the punters enjoyed it. But we just keep working and see what we can get out of this league phase.’
‘It’s up to us now to try and finish that job and show Scottish football in the best light possible.’
