Alan Thompson spent seven years at Celtic as a player.
Celtic legend Alan Thompson has told The Glasgow Evening Times that he feared the worst for his old club after going a goal behind in Wednesday’s Champions League draw away to Astana in Kazakhstan.
Brendan Rodgers’s side, who lost the first leg of their previous qualification tie away to Lincoln Red Imps, fell behind to a Yuri Logvinenko header.
However, Leigh Griffiths, who netted 40 times last season, saved the Hoops by thumping home a 78th-minute equaliser to secure a potetially decisive away goal for the Scottish champions.
It is difficult to know what to makes of Rodgers as Celtic boss so far. It was only the Northern Irishman’s third competitive game, and their 1-0 defeat by the semi-professional Gibraltar side in the previous round was a dark night for the club.
But the Bhoys turned it around in Glasgow, smashing the Red Imps 3-0 to book their tie with Astana, though Thompson, who spent seven years as a Celtic player and later returned as a coach, concedes that Logvinenko’s opener concerned him the other night.
“It is so difficult on the road to get a positive result and I feared the worst for them when they went a goal down,” he told The Glasgow Evening Times.
““It showed a fair bit of character to dig in and get something, so I think that bodes well going into a European campaign. You need to have a bit about you. You need to be a bit streetwise too when you’re playing in Europe.”
Rodgers, who replaced Ronny Deila this summer, needs to get Celtic back into the Champions League proper.
And if they see out the tie with Astana at Celtic Park next week then they would be only 180 minutes away from booking their spot in the group stages.
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