Thomas Muller fired a light-hearted warning to Celtic as he declared ‘The Goat is ready for Glasgow’.
But he wasn’t talking about himself as he took a video of team-mate Manuel Neuer as Bayern Munich touched down in Scotland ahead of tomorrow’s blockbuster Champions League showdown. The German giants are in town for the first-leg of the knockout play-off round with the two sides set to go head to head again next week at the Allianz Arena. But it is all about the here and now for Brendan Rodgers and his troops and their superstar opponents seem in good spirits ahead of the clash.
Speaking in a video uploaded to his Instagram account, Muller declares in English: “The Goat is ready for Glasgow” before making a high-pitched baa sound like the animal itself. He then gets the attention of his team-mate before letting out a big laugh at the end after a short exchange between the pair.
Neuer, now 38, has seen it all in the game for club and country. But he admits it is ‘something special’ to experience the atmosphere at Celtic Park on a European night. It is often raved about by professionals past and present and the veteran stopper can’t wait to get a taster of what is to come under the lights in Glasgow’s east end tomorrow night.
In quotes shared by Bayern’s official account during his media duties, he said: “I spoke to Thomas Müller about 2017, he told me about the impressive atmosphere. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, to football history and the story that Celtic has written – it’s something special for me to play here.
“Celtic play well together, they have an aggressive, strong team. We need to break through their pressing and focus on our attacking football. That starts with our build-up play – we have to be wide awake, as the atmosphere can create some nervousness, but we are prepared for that. Celtic don’t enjoy playing against the ball, so we want to build our attacks towards their box and create chances.”