Vincent Kompany is expecting a tough game at “fortress” Celtic Park and says his Bayern Munich side will give the Scottish Champions “the respect they deserve” in their Champions League playoff clash.
The former Manchester City and Belgium defender has been impressed by what he has seen from the Hoops this season, and knows from experience that Parkhead can be an unforgiving place for visiting teams, but has backed his side to take a good result back to Germany for the return leg.
Both sides are currently top of their respective domestic leagues and come into Wednesday’s first leg in good form.
Kompany was part of an Anderlecht side who were defeated 3-1 by Celtic in Glasgow in the 2003/04 Champions League campaign and is expecting a similarly hard game as they look to reach the last-16 of the competition.
Munich lost three of their four games on the road in the league phase, with defeats to Aston Villa, Feyenoord and Barcelona, and insists his team will have to understand the importance of the game to avoid more away day misery.
He said: “Both clubs stand very high in the history of the Champions League because of their achievements in the competition.
“But for me, and I imagine it will be the same for Brendan, we are here to create the next piece of history and that is our job to achieve that for our fans.
“Historically, anyone with a good understand of football will know the home record of Celtic in this competition. And not just this season, it goes way back, throughout my career, I can’t remember Celtic losing many home games in Europe.
“So it can be a fortress. How this game will work out on the night we have to wait and see so we will give that the respect it deserves.
“But we also have a team who are geared to look forward to big games, and we realise the magnitude of the game.
“There is no one on our side who will treat this any different to any other big game and we, of course, have the sole ambition to win because that is the pressure we live with all the time.
“I think we’re playing against a team that is used to winning a lot and settling days with their attack.
“They’re used to scoring goals and they take that confidence into big games.
“But there’s also some things they do less of. They probably defend less deep in their domestic league. I’ve got that experience against clubs who are dominant in their league.”
Kompany was just 17 when he came up against a formidable Celtic attack of Henrik Larsson, John Hartson and Chris Sutton at Parkhead 22 years ago.
Then Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson was in the stands to watch the highly-rated teenager, who would go on to earn 89 international caps and win four Premier League titles with Man City.
However, the legendary Scottish boss decided against making a move for Kompany and instead signed Liam Miller who capped an impressive performance by scoring one of Celtic’s three goals.
Kompany remembers the game well and insists it was probably a blessing in disguise that ne never caught the eye of Sir Alex.
He said: “It’s not a nostalgic return. I’m coming back as a coach, not a player. I don’t want to bring in too much nostalgia, but it was great.
“I remember Sir Alex Ferguson was there to watch me. If I’d played well, maybe he would’ve made an offer for me.
“But I’m glad I ended up at the blue side of Manchester. As a player, you look forward to moments like this, no matter how tough they are. Celtic have a great home record, but that just increases our appetite for games like this.”
Kompany also has fond memories of coming up against Brendan Rodgers when they were both in the English top-flight and can see the impact the former Leicester and Liverpool boss had at Celtic.
He said: “I remember my last game at the Etihad for Manchester City against Brendan Rodgers. It was very tough, even though we needed to win. They pressed, had lots of possession and made it really tough for us to get the ball back.
“They have good attackers. Rodgers had the same at Leicester, at Liverpool — I can see his impact on the team here as well.”
The Munich boss is also hopeful they have learned from previous away games in the Champions League.
He said: “I stand by the fact that we always reacted well, learned our lessons and reacted right.
“This time it’s two games instead of one.
“Our goal is to ensure we continue to develop. The psychology of this game is different because we’ve got two legs.
“Celtic also need to come to us, and we also have a good atmosphere.”
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