THE first Champions League match that Stephen Welsh ever attended at Parkhead as a seven-year-old Celtic supporter had a profound effect on him.
The Scot was in the crowd when the Glasgow club beat defending champions AC Milan 2-1 back in 2007 thanks to a last minute Scott McDonald goal.
From that moment on, the aspiring professional dreamt of playing in Europe’s premier club competition against the cream of the continent at the East End venue.
Welsh could finally realise that lifelong ambition tomorrow evening when his boyhood heroes take on RB Leipzig again in their fourth Group F match.
But if the centre half, who made his Champions League debut over in Germany last Wednesday night, is given the nod to start by Ange Postecoglou he will not be concerned about achieving a significant personal landmark in his career.
Helping Celtic secure a victory that increases their chances of finishing in the top two in their section and reaching the knockout rounds will be at the forefront of the 22-year-old’s mind.
“To go to Parkhead and play in the Champions League is the dream,” he said. “I have played away from home now obviously, but it is a different kettle of fish playing at home on a Champions League night.
“It will be my first Champions League start at Celtic Park if I am picked. It is obviously good playing away from home, but a Champions League night at Celtic Park will be a different occasion. Hopefully we can use the crowd to our advantage.
“The first one I went to was the AC Milan game, the 2-1 game, in 2007. They were the best team in the world at the time and Celtic went out and won the game. Hopefully we can do the same on Tuesday night.
“I was seven. It was a long time ago now. They had Kaka, Pirlo. They were a good team, but that night Celtic came out on top. But I am here now to go and play and challenge at the top stage.
“As I say, it is a dream, but you never actually think of it. To go and do that would be a special occasion. But I don’t think we can think of it like that. We need to think of it as a game that we need to go and perform in. We need to play our football and go and win the game.”
Welsh continued: “We know it is going to be tough, but we are going to go into it the same way and try to play our football, attack and press high. That is probably what you would expect from us now. It is about recovering and preparing. We will be ready to go again on Tuesday night.
“It is a massive learning experience for me, but all we need to do is think about how we are going to play. We know it is going to be a big occasion, but I don’t think we need to play the occasion. It is about playing our football – high pressing, high tempo.
“It is in our own hands to qualify. But we are not looking at it like that. We are wanting to go and put a good performance in, play our football against Leipzig, which we did in parts on Wednesday. We have got to do that for the full 90 minutes instead of just wee bits and pieces.”
Welsh expressed confidence that Celtic can cope without their captain and central midfielder Callum McGregor, who is set to be out until after the World Cup with a knee injury, against Leipzig.
“Everyone knows that Callum is a big miss,” he said. “But I thought the boys showed great character again against St Johnstone on Saturday.
“Cam (Carter-Vickers) stepped up to be the captain and was a great leader. Everyone backed him and we backed each other. Especially when we have tough moments during the game.
“We just have to trust in ourselves, trust the players around us. If the manager trusts you to go and play you should trust yourself to go and play. I thought we did that.
“We switched off in the last couple of minutes and conceded a poor goal from our point of view. But the character the boys showed was great. We have done it many times before and we will look to push on to Tuesday.”
