They may have left Celtic Park with a first leg Champions League victory – but Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and his teammates have confessed they have “rarely experienced” an atmosphere like it.
Celtic limited the Bundesliga heavyweights for long spells before Daizen Maeda pulled a goal back to give Brendan Rodgers’ side a lifeline in the second leg – with the Scottish champions unfortunate note to take a draw to the Allianz Arena after a scintillating end to the showdown. But despite escaping Glasgow with an advantage to take into the home showdown, captain Neuer admits the side are rarely faced with a hostile atmosphere like the one inside Parkhead.
Speaking post-match, the twice Champions League winner said: “Celtic had a really long unbeaten home run and that’s not easy to achieve. We weren’t always ideally positioned, but overall we deserved to win here. We didn’t buckle under the pressure. We could have been cooler in certain situations, but we remained level-headed for most of the game and played smart football.
“It was really important not to concede another goal and drive home with a draw. It was very loud here. It’s rare to experience such an atmosphere and that was special for us.”
Joshua Kimmich admitted his side lost control of the clash in the closing stages when facing with the relentless support from the home end, saying: “We actually kept it pretty quiet for a long time, but it got really loud towards the end.
“After the 2-0 we were no longer in control. Then the fans were there. In general it is difficult to control every game for 95 minutes.
“That is of course our aim, but we also know that it is not so easy here. Especially when the opponent then gains the momentum. I thought the 2-1 was a bit unnecessary. Before that we kept them away from the goal relatively well, apart from the offside goal.”
Konrad Laimer relished playing in front of the raucous Hoops diehards, stating: “It’s fun to play here. It was definitely the right step. You can concede a goal now and then, it’s not the end of the world, but you just can’t lose momentum in the game.”
Defender Dayot Upamecano conceded: “It was a very, very difficult game in a great stadium and against a great opponent, but we won and we are satisfied. We did very well, we defended a lot at the back.”
Bayern board chief Max Eberl admitted the side were lucky to escape Celtic Park adding: “Every victory is good and now we are out of this seething cauldron, even if it is called Paradise. It was hard work, it cost us a lot of willingness to run.
“But now our performance level cannot drop for long. It has to slowly increase again on Friday, because the next top game is on Saturday.”