Arne Engels relishing another Champions League night in Paradise

Celtic F.C.

·4 November 2024

Arne Engels relishing another Champions League night in Paradise

Progressing to the League Cup final has been celebrated, enjoyed, reviewed and now filed away just two days after the win, as the Celts have barely had time to reflect on their crushing 6-0 win over Aberdeen than an altogether different test arrives tomorrow night (Tuesday) against RB Leipzig.

The aura of a UEFA Champions League night under the lights at Paradise returns with a game against the Bundesliga outfit, and a Celt who faced off against them just last season spoke to the media ahead of the game.

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Arne Engels, of course, plied his trade in the German top-flight before joining the Hoops at the start of the season so he knows what to expect from the opposition.

He said: ““We are expecting a really good team. We are really prepared for it, we did some tactical things this morning and everybody is really excited for the game, and everybody is really ready.”

He is also ready for the atmosphere on such nights after experiencing it first-hand in Celtic’s opening game of the tournament when Slovan Bratislava were defeated 5-1.

Engels said: “It will be amazing, I cannot wait actually to see the fans again, to see the stadium and the crowd.

“So that will help us a lot, and, like I’ve said in previous interviews, it’s an amazing atmosphere that pushes us to the limit, and I think we will get there.

‘It can be crucial of course, we know that we have an amazing stadium and an amazing fan-base, so, of course, we need to take advantage of this and get the crowd going.’

“Everybody will be at full energy and the stadium will also be giving us more energy.”

Following that opener, there was the defeat at Borussia Dortmund before the Celts delivered that well-deserved 0-0 draw in Italy against Atalanta – a result that sends the team into this week’s tie in great shape.

The Belgian midfielder said: “I think we are pretty confident. We showed that we can really defend and we can play against really good teams.

“You see Atalanta playing in their own Serie A and playing really amazing football, and beating Napoli at the weekend, so that shows confidence for us that we can do that against really good teams and we can’t wait to start the game tomorrow.

“Every time that we play in the Champions League there is the goal to go to the knockouts or to go further in the tournament, and we showed against Atalanta that we can defend, and it’s maybe not the way that we always do it, because we like to attack and play full of energy.

“That shows the other side of us, and it also shows confidence for our side that we can do that.

“That’s also a step in our game that we are improving and doing really well.”

He added: “It’s a higher level of course, it’s the biggest stage you can play, so everybody is prepared and everybody knows they need to be at the top of their game tomorrow.

“Celtic have played a lot of times in the Champions League, so everybody knows what to expect and what to do tomorrow.”