RB Leipzig star admits German giants were ‘impressed’ by Celtic in UCL

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RB Leipzig were ‘impressed’ with Celtic’s performance despite eventually overcoming Ange Postecoglou’s side 3-1 in the Champions League group-stages at the Red Bull Arena, playmaker Emil Forsberg tells RB Live. 

After three games, neither Celtic nor Rangers have a single win to show for their efforts. But while Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Gers barely laid a glove on Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax, their Old Firm neighbours can consider themselves more than a little hard-done by after reaching the midway point of the group-stage sitting bottom of the table.

Celtic were outstanding for long spells against Real Madrid before being picked off at Parkhead. They should have beaten Shakhtar Donetsk. And, if they had been a little more ruthless at one end and a little less careless at the other, the Hoops might have secured a valuable point on German soil too. 

Celtic pay for their mistakes in RB Leipzig defeat

“We knew that Celtic could find good solutions with the ball,” Forsberg said after two second-half Andre Silva goals – the first following a horror show from Joe Hart – sealed a hard-fought 3-1 win. 

“We were prepared so it was a high intensity game. Celtic wanted to play fast football and we were a little impressed at first. But in the second half, we brought the three points home.”

The mercurial Jota drew Celtic level moments after the interval in Leipzig, cancelling out an early opener from Christopher Nkunku. The Hoops were made to pay for their errors, however, conceding just 16 seconds after they were given a corner at the other end before Hart’s misplaced pass rendered Jota’s well-taken finish rather moot.

“”I’m very satisfied,” adds Leipzig coach Marco Rose, who was full of praise for Celtic pre-game.

“Not just because of the win, but because we did really well over long periods against good opponents. At times, it was a very wild game. But we kept at it, survived difficult situations and gave the opponent a lot of tasks.

“That’s why we deservedly won the game.”