Ange Postecoglou has challenged his Celtic team to begin stamping their Champions League authority after a bright reintroduction to the tournament which has delivered limited rewards.
The Scottish Premiership kings will be in Germany this week for the first of their double headers against RB Leipzig and have got one point from their first two games. Celtic lost 3-0 to holders Real Madrid in a bright maiden voyage and then passed up plenty of clear chances during a 1-1 away draw against Shakhtar Donetsk. Postecoglou said of the European campaign so far on Celtic TV: "It's been good, I would have enjoyed it more if we'd won, obviously, because you want to win games of football.
"But it's just great to be performing at that level again and it's where the club needs to be, wants to be. Now the challenge for us is to grow every time we're out there. I guess for the players, that initial excitement in the first game, the buzz of being in the Champions League, particularly here at home playing against Real Madrid was fantastic, but now we've done that, it's about 'let's make an impact at that level'.
"It doesn't mean the challenge is getting any easier, because Leipzig away is a pretty tough challenge, but now it's about really wanting us to be present at that stage, to be competitive at that stage and growing every time we're out there."
Celtic have a point more than Leipzig, who also lost out to Real Madrid after a bruising 4-1 home defeat by Shakhtar ultimately cost Domenico Tedesco his job. His replacement, Marco Rose, has guided his new team to two impressive Bundesliga home wins against Borussia Dortmund and Bochum, either side of a 3-0 away defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Postecoglou said: "They had a little bit of a disrupted start to the season. But the change of manager seems to have sparked them a little bit. All the traditional trademarks of their football are there, they've got a lot of speed, very dynamic and in terms of transition football very quick.
"When you're playing away in the Champions League there's always a massive challenge to overcome those hurdles. But I think it will be a good game for us to again measure our football, measure ourselves and we'll be ready for it."
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