“I think a fast start and an early goal are pretty crucial in that game,” Michael Stewart | OneFootball

Michael Stewart reckons that Celtic need to come flying out of the traps tonight and score an early goal against BSC Young Boys. The former Hearts and Hibs midfielder was speaking to Darrell Currie and Alan Hutton on The Scottish Football Social Club and revealed his thoughts on another gargantuan match for the Bhoys in Europe.

Champions League Reo Hatate celebrates after scoring in the second half of a Champions League football match against Leipzig on Nov. 5, 2024, Photo Imago (The Celtic Star).

The Premier Sports pundit has been urging Celtic for weeks now to get that early advantage in games and then make teams pay with their wonderful ability to keep possession and kill teams with their passing. Brendan Rodgers’ men have taken the lead in some games of late but have failed to make the goal count, by turning it into another two or three to kill our opponents off.

When asked whether or not the Scottish Premiership’s reigning Champions were back to their best yet or still had a way to go, he replied: “I think it’s fair to say they’re not firing on all cylinders, by any stretch of the imagination. You think about the Leipzig performance in particular at home, which was you know, standout. They are well and truly capable of doing it. I think it’s fair to say they’re not going into this game in a position where you would expect that performance, as much as you would have perhaps a couple of months ago.

“And that happens at times. Just a little bit of momentum shifts throughout the season. They’re still picking up lots of good results. Young Boys is a game that there is extra pressure. There is a level of expectation. And also, you know I’ve spoken about this the last month or so. The danger of just pinpointing that game and saying ‘ok we’ll get three points there and we’ll get qualified out the league phase.’ A little bit of complacency can creep in there. And that’s obviously the job of Brendan Rodgers and his coaching staff, to make sure they are absolutely on point.”

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Stewart also added that he reckons that early goal could be crucial in determining this fixture and told Celtic to hit them from the first whistle tonight. “I think a fast start and an early goal are pretty crucial in that game,” he added. “If it does happen, I think you could quickly see the performance that was expected a couple of months ago could come back quickly for Celtic. It’s also why I think he put out his strongest eleven against Killie. I think he was wanting to try to build that momentum going into Wednesday night.”