ALISTAIR Johnston has told his Celtic team mates they have an opportunity to write their names in the Parkhead club’s history books against Bayern Munich and become revered forever - just like the side which defeated Barcelona.
Johnston is reminded of the heights which he and his fellow players need to scale to emulate the achievements of their illustrious predecessors on a daily basis when he walks around the training ground at Lennoxtown.
However, the Canadian right-back, who is certain to start for the Scottish champions in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round play-off double header against German giants Bayern in Glasgow tomorrow evening, welcomes the demands which there are to perform at home and abroad.
He can still remember how Celtic’s sensational 2-1 win over Barca, Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi et al, in the group stages of the competition back in 2012 sent shockwaves around the world.
He is relishing the chance to match, and possibly even eclipse, that famous victory.
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“That Barca team of 2012 was pretty special,” he said. “That line-up will go down as one of the all-time greats.
“I’ve watched a lot of this Bayern team because Alfonse Davies (his Canada team mate) is there. They are a really solid squad and a really impressive team as well. We’re going to have our work cut out.
“But it’s something we are excited about. This is an amazing opportunity. We’re excited for the challenge because it’s a good measuring stick for us. Okay, we are up against the best in the world, let’s see if we can minimise the gap on the night. That’s what the Celtic boys did well in 2012. They went man-to-man and got the job done.
“Can we find a way to find a performance like that as well? It’s not going to be easy, but we are looking forward to it. It is a chance to go down in history for sure. That’s something you realise when you walk in the door here and along the corridors you see the photos and the numbers, the trebles and all these things.
“That was what stood out for me in my first season when we won the treble. I looked down at the t-shirt they gave us and saw the number eight. We’d done something amazing and it had been done seven times before.
Johnston continued: “You want to find a way to leave a lasting legacy on the club. It’s not an easy thing here. But ties like this give you an opportunity to be remembered as one of the great teams.
“As a kid growing up in Canada I remember that match in 2012. I wasn’t even a Celtic fan back then, but I do remember Celtic beating Barcelona at Celtic Park. I remember Victor Wanyama scoring. I knew Tony Watt’s name and I was a 14-year-old kid in Canada! That’s what those kinds of nights can do and it gives us an extra spring in our step.”
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American football fan Johnston got up yesterday morning and watched highlights of the Philadelphia Eagles’ stunning win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl in New Orleans the night before – a result which prevented the defending champions from making history and pulling off a “Three-peat”.
However, the Dallas Cowboys supporter, who revealed that Auston Trusty got a pre-Bayern boost from seeing his home town team prevail, believes it showed that upsets can still happen in modern day sport.
“This is one of the best teams in the world and has been for as long as I can pretty much remember,” he said. “They have been utterly dominant at home in the Champions League. This is a titan of European football.
“But one of the most memorable Celtic matches was when they beat Barcelona at home. Tony Watt is still around the league and still has his name chanted by Celtic fans. You want to be a part of a night like that. We have an opportunity.
“Obviously, you need your cards to fall right, you need to play pretty much a perfect game, but you have an opportunity to do that. As slim as the odds might be, there still is a chance. The boys are all really excited we are in this position.”
Johnston added: “It is a great opportunity to go out and shock all the world and see what we can do in the next week or so in these two matches.
“Hopefully we will keep a clean sheet like the Eagles did for so long. I’ll tell you what, if we could put up an Eagles’ scoreline I would be buzzing with that. That would be something, oh my goodness.”
