Goal hero Timo Werner reckons Celtic gave Leipzig a black eye - and admits he was relieved to hit the back of the net and quieten down a furious Parkhead atmosphere. Teammate Xaver Schlager, meanwhile, insists Celtic Park was louder and more intimidating than the Bernabeu when they faced Real Madrid.
The Hoops created plenty of chances against Leipzig but couldn't take any of them and ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat that punctured their Champions League ambitions for another season. Werner opened the scoring late on when he headed in Andre Silva's cross for his first Champions League goal since returning to the club in the summer.
And the striker admits his team were lucky to escape with just a "black eye," but knows it could have been different had he not scored when he did. He said: "We got off with a black eye I think. My goal was exactly what we needed to silence such a stadium with an amazing atmosphere. It's always good to score a goal in front of a crowd like this.
"We were good in some parts of the game and others where we were not. My goal was all down to Andre Silva's cross. It was hardly a difficult header after that.
"Now it's between us and Shakhtar Donetsk for second place and if we don't lose in Warsaw, we have a very good chance of qualifying."
Leipzig ream mate Xaver Schlager labelled the Parkhead crowd as 'outstanding' compared with the hushed tones of Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium. He said: "It was a difficult game because the Scots had a lot of energy on the wings.
"Celtic tried everything, but we had more stamina. But it could have gone the other way because Celtic also had good chances. The atmosphere was outstanding, in the other away game in the group in Madrid, it was rather quiet.”
And Emil Forsberg reckons they have turned the corner. He pointed out: "It's not easy at Celtic. Before the game, the manager said we had to take our chances and I managed to score a nice goal."
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