COMING up against Harry Kane, the striker he idolised when he was an aspiring professional who dreamed of playing at the highest level for both club and country, has always been a huge thrill for Adam Idah.
The Celtic forward readily admits he will get a buzz out of being on the same pitch as the Bayern Munich talisman once again in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round play-off double header at a packed Parkhead tomorrow evening.
Yet, the Republic of Ireland internationalist, who has plundered four goals in his last three games to take his tally for the 2024/25 campaign to 12, will not be interested in getting an autograph off or selfie taken with the legendary England captain this week.
Idah has a Spurs shirt with Kane’s name on the back of it hanging in his wardrobe already.
He is far more concerned with helping the Scottish champions to record a result against their highly-fancied German counterparts which gives them a chance of progressing to the last 16.
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“Obviously he's a world-class striker,” he said. “I've played against him loads of times before, when Norwich played Tottenham and when Ireland played England, and watching him live is unbelievable.
“I have his top - I got Matt Doherty (his national team mate) to get that for me - so that’s a big one to have in the closet.
“I think as he's got older, he's probably played a different sort of role to what I would play, but even at that, he's still a world-class striker. He's someone that I look up to. I did when I was younger and he was at Tottenham. What he's doing for Bayern Munich now is unbelievable, so it'll be great to play against him and see what he's like.”
“When I've played against him, he can pretty much do everything, and we've seen recently he's the type of striker now that's dropping in deep and he's scoring goals from anywhere. So, yeah, he's a versatile striker, he's obviously world-class, he's unbelievable and I'm looking forward to playing against him.”
However, the 6ft 3in 23-year-old, who ended a 14 match scoring drought with a brace in the Champions League league phase match against Aston Villa in Birmingham at the end of last month, will by no means be overawed by Kane or the star-studded visitors.
The £8.5m summer signing, who will lead the Celtic front line against Bayern following the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes in the January transfer window, sees no reason why the hosts can’t compete with their illustrious rivals over the two legs if they perform at their very best.
Idah dismissed suggestions the pressure is off his side because nobody expects them to prevail against the six-time European champions and rubbished claims they have already achieved their objective by progressing to the next stage of the competition.
“This is why you want to be at a club like Celtic, these games, these ties, that everyone wants to play in,” he said. “They are big, big games. Bayern Munich are one of the best teams in the world so it's exciting for everyone.
“To be honest, whatever team we got it wasn't going to be easy when we got this far. But, like I said, we're all excited, these are the games we want to play in. Hopefully we can get results and do our bit. Our aim is to try and do the best we can and try to get results in both stadiums.
“I don't think the pressure's off because we're in the knockout stages of football now. I don't think anyone in the changing room or in this building thinks that we're going to lose the game or get battered. It's not a one-off game, we want to go out there and prove to people why we're so good and why we're still this far in the competition.”
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Idah has shown he has the mentality needed to compete against the cream of the continent in recent weeks by putting his slump in form firmly behind him and strongly suggesting that he can fill the massive void which Furuhashi has left up front.
“It's probably something I learned when I was at Norwich,” he said. “I used to get on top of myself a lot and look at what other people were saying quite a bit. I think the older I’ve got, the more games I've played and the more players I've played with, I've realised there's always ups and downs in football.
“It (going 14 games without netting) didn't affect me at all. That's what I'm saying. A lot of people thought my confidence was gone or I was upset that I wasn't starting the games or I wasn't playing many minutes.
“It wasn't the case, it was just that I wasn't scoring. But that's going to happen probably many times in my career. It’s just a case of working hard and doing my bit on the pitch and if that goal does come, hopefully I can continue that going forward. It's just getting that bit of luck for a striker and working hard.”
Idah added: "People have seen what I can do in the big games. I'm not being arrogant, but I'm confident enough that I can add another level to this team.
“I know probably people haven't seen that of me yet but I believe in myself and I know the staff and the players do as well. So, yeah, I'm confident in myself and hopefully I can produce that in the next couple of games.”
