Stephen Welsh admits AC Milan superstars Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, Kaka and Filippo Inzaghi were part of his own Champions League baptism of fire on a night when Celtic beat the best in the world. The Hoops defender may have been at primary school at the time but the memory of a 2-1 Parkhead win over the holders remains fresh as it was also his first taste of Europe as a fan.
That class of 2007 had Stephen McManus and Scott McDonald scoring the goals and Welsh was a wide-eyed kid with a dream of treading the boards on the biggest stage with his boyhood heroes. That reality should arrive against RB Leipzig.
A chance to reignite hopes of making a genuine stab at progressing from Group F is at stake against the Germans after having one point to show for being three games in. Making amends for last Wednesday's 3-1 loss in the Red Bull Arena is on Welsh's mind as spoke about an opportunity to fulfil a childhood ambition after being asked about his favourite Euro occasion in Glasgow's East End.
He said: “Probably the first one I went to, the AC Milan game, the 2-1 game. 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 or eight. It was a long time ago now. But I am here now to go and play and challenge at the top stage. They had Kaka, Pirlo. They were a good team, but that night Celtic came out on top.
"At that time it is a dream, but you never actually think of it. To go and do that would be a special occasion. That is the dream – to go there and play in the Champions League. I have played away from home now obviously, but it is a different kettle of fish playing at home on a Champions League night.
"Hopefully we can use that to our advantage. 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. 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.”
The 22-year-old is adamant only a complete performance will be good enough against Leipzig but he agreed with a question which suggested Celtic's Champions League fate remains in their own hands. He said: “Exactly, it is. 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.”
“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.”
“That is the level of the Champions League – every team we are going to play are going to have dangerous players. Leipzig showed that the other night, but we showed as well that we can go there and create chances. At Celtic Park with the home crowd behind us we showed we can go and do the same.”
Celtic's last gasp win at St Johnstone may have scored high in dramatic effect but Welsh believes it also underlined the never-say-die spirit in his side and he's adamant the three points were more than deserved. He said: “That is what this club is all about. As the manager said., we keep going, we never stop. We suffered a setback late on, but we kept going, we kept pursuing and Alexandro Bernabei has done brilliantly down the left wing and thankfully that one has gone in.
"We created a lot of chances and 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 could have been three or four up before they scored. We always create chances. It is about putting them away.
"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.”
Welsh also had a special word of praise for Greek striker Giorgos Giakoumakis for going the distance and hitting the winner in the fifth minute of added time. He said: “Giako has been brilliant. He is always waiting for his chance whether he comes off the bench or plays a full 90. You always fancy him to nick a goal and he did it at the perfect moment."
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