Celtic were left red faced in the Rhineland last week and it was even more of a riddy for Nicolas Kuhn after being determined to front up in his homeland.
But the wide man insisted Celts can turn the other cheek after their Borussia Dortmund and show that wasn’t the real Hoops out there. Brendan Rodgers’s men bounce back from their battering with a battling win against Ross County on Sunday. Yet the scars from the Westfalenstadion will take longer to heal having gone to Germany with so much hope.
The 7-1 stuffing was a slap on the chops and Kuhn admitted he needed a sit down with his boss after being desperate to do the business in his own country. Rodgers turned his frown upside down and the attacker had Celtic fans smiling again with his late winner in Dingwall. Kuhn admitted it was vital to get back on track – and there is a huge desire to prove in the Champions League the Dortmund drubbing wasn’t a true reflection.
The former Bayern Munich and Ajax product said: “That was not our real face. We lost to the finalists of the Champions League and if you are not 100 percent on it they will take their chances. We talked a lot about it and it is done and we just focus on the games coming up.
“Yes, for me personally, it was really difficult as I wanted to have a good game there. It was not to be and that’s how it is now. I spoke to the manager about it and he told me to keep going and that’s what we did on Sunday.”
The Dortmund defeat was the kind of hefty hosing that provokes an existential crisis that has everyone questioning everything from Celtic’s ability to the level of Scottish football. Kuhn doesn’t think folk should dig too deep. It was a horrendous day at the office and there is plenty of scope to recover with Atalanta up next in Italy before another crack at German position when RB Leipzig head to Glasgow.
He said: “I think we showed it before in the Chelsea game in pre-season (the 4-1 win in the USA) that we are a better team than that. I think everything was against us in Dortmund and we have a lot of games to go and we need to do better.
“For a lot of the guys, it is their first experience of the Champions League. That’s a factor we are going to work on. We played a good team in a big stadium and if you make lots of mistakes then they will punish you.
“That is what happened and we have to bounce back from that and take and learn a lesson. At the end of the game, we just lost three points and we conceded too many goals that much is clear but we have six games to go. We have another German team with RB Leipzig. It is at home this time and we just have to do better.”
The Champions League can wait for now though as Celtic need to keep taking care of Premiership business with red-hot Aberdeen on their shoulders and Rangers putting a post Old Firm defeat run together.
Kuhn is keeping up his end though and is producing impressive numbers. He notched his sixth goal of the season on Sunday to go along with his eight assists from the campaign so far and he laughed off the suggestion he was a Fantasy Football player’s dream with those figures.
Kuhn like to play along too and he’s delighted his hard work is paying off. He said: “Yes, I do play! Of course that is good to get another goal. I have worked a lot on that in training. Pre-season was important for me as I had to get a connection with everybody in the team.”
Kuhn’s superb strike came from a deadly through ball from Alistair Johnston but the wide man was smart enough to take on the riskier option rather than play in pal Kyogo. It was the right call as his winner sparked wild celebrations – and fears he could be shown a second yellow card for going to the crowd.
The refs have the final say and didn’t deem it dangerous off the pitch – unlike Kuhn on it. He said: “So far it has been good. I enjoyed the goal. I saw Kyogo and I thought he had strayed offside.
“That’s why I didn’t cross it and it worked out well in the end. I really enjoyed it and it was amazing to celebrate with the fans at the end.
“Did I think I would get a red card? Not really. The first booking was not deserved. So I didn’t think about being sent off. I was just happy we got the three points in the end as it was really important to go into the international break with a win.”
It was an important one too on the back of Germany – and another test of this Celtic side’s resolve. Kuhn said: “It felt really good. It wasn’t a great first half but we got the three points in the end. It was nothing to do with the game in Dortmund. We were focused solely on this game.
“Our passing wasn’t good and we were slow and the final pass was missing. “We spoke about it half time and we did much better in the second half. The manager always tells us to focus on every game and that we just need to keep going.
“Yes, it showed the mentality, 100 percent. We all did a good job. The first half was not how we wanted it but we got the win at the end.”