Celtic have a huge Champions League clash with Bayern Munich tonight.
Owen Hargreaves has told BT Sport that Celtic must test back-up goalkeeper Sven Ulreich in their Champions League trip to Bayern Munich tonight.
The Hoops visit the Allianz Arena on the back of a 3-0 win away to Anderlecht in the previous round of fixtures but victory in Bavaria is a far bigger challenge.
Bayern welcome back legendary coach Jupp Heynckes following Carlo Ancelotti’s dismissal last month and the Bundesliga giants warmed up with a 5-0 win over Freiburg this past weekend
If there is one positive for Celtic it comes in the fact that goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is ruled out through injury, meaning that 29-year-old Ulreich will deputise for his world-class team-mate.
And former Bayern man Hargreaves says it is imperative that Brendan Rodgers’s side test the former Stuttgart man at every possible opportunity.
“Manuel Neuer is missing which is a big thing,” he told BT Sport.
“He isn’t incredibly busy but he makes important saves and the biggest weakness for Bayern is probably the fact he’s missing.
“But Celtic have to get up the pitch to test Sven Ulreich. Celtic blow teams out the water domestically but how much possession will they have against Bayern, 35 per cent?”
When the draw was made and it became clear that Celtic would also have Paris Saint-Germain in their group, it was widely believed that the best the Hoops could hope for was a third-placed finish and entry into Europa League.
And that probably remains the case for now, but victory in Germany tomorrow would give rise to the most cautious of suggestions that Rodgers can lead them into the last 16.
It’s a huge ask, but the Northern Irishman is constantly out-doing himself in Glasgow, so who knows.
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