Soccer

Brendan Rodgers urges Celtic to play ‘without fear’ despite Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane boost

Celtic visit Germany on Tuesday facing one-goal deficit

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Ewan Murray
Mon Feb 17 2025 - 20:16
Champions League playoff round second leg: Bayern Munich (2) Celtic (1), Allianz Arena, Live on Premier Sports 1

No sooner had Celtic been afforded unlikely hope on the eve of the second leg of their Champions League playoff against Bayern Munich than their counterparts in the Bavarian capital dismissed any notion of Harry Kane missing the match.

Kane sat out Bayern’s training session on Monday as he recovered from the effects of a facial injury, sustained during the weekend draw with Bayer Leverkusen. The Bayern manager, Vincent Kompany, said he would wait until Tuesday before deciding whether the England captain can line up against the Scottish champions.

“It’s nothing bad with Harry but we’ve not got much time to recover,” Kompany said. “Sometimes you need an extra day. But we’ll see how Harry feels tomorrow morning. I’m assuming it’s nothing bad.”

Kompany admitted his description of Kane’s situation was “blurry”. Kane scored the second of Bayern’s goals in Glasgow. The hosts take a 2-1 lead into the return and Kompany’s desire to use Kane or otherwise may depend on whether he believes Bayern already have sufficient leeway as they plot a path towards the last 16. Publicly, Kompany is hugely respectful of Celtic.

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“When you’re playing against teams who are used to dominating and scoring lots of goals in their domestic league, then you have a team who are always dangerous when they get forward,” he said.

Neither Brendan Rodgers nor his goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, appears to be placing much stock in facing a Kane-free Bayern. “He will play,” Schmeichel said with a broad smile. “I know Harry from our time together at Leicester and I have played against him so many times that I can’t imagine he wouldn’t play.”

Kane, it should be noted, has found the net 19 times against Schmeichel for club and country. Rodgers, the Celtic manager, was only marginally less strong with his sentiment. “It doesn’t change anything in terms of, we need to win the game and we want to win the game,” Rodgers said. “If Harry didn’t play then of course it’s a big miss for them but I’m pretty sure there’s another world-class player that would come in and play. I would expect Harry to play.”

Rodgers readily admitted Bayern were firm favourites but it is a sign of Celtic’s development at Champions League level that they arrived with spring in step. Regardless of the outcome, Rodgers can look back on this European campaign as one containing tangible progress. He has challenged his players to leave Munich with no regrets.

“You come to this level and you have to play without any fear,” Rodgers said. “I think there’s worse things in football that can happen than lose, or worse things in life that can happen than losing in football. So for us, we want to ensure that when we come in after the game, if we don’t go through we’ve given it absolutely everything.

“We’ve got the one opportunity. We’ve got to be clever, we’ve got to be bright, we’ve got to be brave in the game. And if we can do that, we’ve shown, and history’s shown in sport, that anything can happen.”

The key Rodgers decision is also in attack. Daizen Maeda’s success in a central role in the closing stages of the first leg may mean the Japanese starts in that role, with Irish striker Adam Idah left out and Jota on the left wing. Celtic’s alternative is to retain Idah and field Maeda on the left. – Guardian