Bayern Bru

It was a weird quirk of Champions League match day eight that Celtic came out of the league phase with exactly the same two teams they were set to get if it had ended on match day seven. Perhaps it was destined that Celtic would be facing one of the two European giants, either reigning champions and fifteen times winners Real Madrid, or the six times winners Bayern Munich. The 4-2 defeat away to Aston Villa did, of course, play its part in where Celtic finished in the table – twenty first, a point clear of Dinamo Zagreb who were unfortunate to miss out despite picking up eleven points.

In the end, the draw paired Celtic with Bayern Munich, meaning that although this new format has certainly thrown up some interesting matches so far, the other tie is yet another meeting between Manchester City and Real Madrid which has happened all too frequently in recent seasons. I guess that’s just the price of success – price being the nominative word here of course, such is the way money rules the game at all levels these days.

As much as the league phase, the bracket and the draws within them might seem a bit complicated at times, the task at hand now is simple. A traditional two legged tie awaits for Celtic against the German giants, with the first leg at Celtic Park tonight at 8pm – live on TNT Sports 2 – and the second leg to come in Germany next Tuesday. We’ll come back to that one next week.

This isn’t the first time Bayern Munich will have visited Celtic Park. The bad news for Celtic, is Bayern are unbeaten there.

The first visit came in the Champions League group stages of 2003/04. Bayern actually became the first visiting side in the group stages not to lose to Celtic as they earned a goalless draw in a campaign that had seen Celtic beat Lyon and Anderlecht earlier. The draw was enough for the Germans to progress, but ultimately meant Celtic had to get something in Lyon which they failed to do. This was as close as anyone came to scoring that night.

The last time Bayern visited Celtic Park was in the 2017/18 Champions League group stage, during Brendan Rodgers’ first spell in charge. Kingsley Coman gave the visitors the lead in the first half, but with fifteen minutes to go Callum McGregor equalised… only for Javi Martinez to put Bayern back in the lead a couple of minutes later.

Of course, Celtic have hosted several other German sides over the years. You’ll know that if you read my blog previewing the RB Leipzig visit during the league phase! Thus, RB Leipzig are the last German side to visit Celtic Park, and as we know they lost 3-1 courtesy of two goals from Nicolas Kuhn and one from Reo Hatate, all after RB Leipzig had taken the lead through Christoph Baumgartner.

Bayern have faced other Scottish opposition in the last as well, and as much as they’re unbeaten at Celtic Park they’re certainly not unbeaten in Scotland. In fact, they don’t actually have the best of records here! The win over Celtic in 2017, their most recent visit to Scotland, was only their third in ten matches. Of the other seven, they’ve lost three and drawn four.

Their first visit to Scotland was a 1-1 draw with Rangers in the 1970/71 Inter Cities Fairs Cup first round. Colin Stein with the Rangers goal in a game that even the wikipedia page for the tournament doesn’t seem to have information on! So yeah, no video for this one!

They then met Rangers again in the 1971/72 Cup Winners’ Cup semi final, losing 2-0 at Ibrox. Sandy Jardine and Derek Parlane with the crucial goals in the tie that took Rangers through to the final.

Next was a visit to Pittodrie in the 1982/83 Cup Winners’ Cup quarter final, losing 3-2 to Aberdeen. Yep, both of these two saw the Scottish side go on and lift the trophy! Klaus Augenthaler opened the scoring early in the first half, but Neil Simpson levelled before half time. Hans Pflugler put the visitors back in front but once more Aberdeen levelled through Alex McLeish. No sooner had he done that, when John Hewitt put Aberdeen in front for what proved to be the winning goal of the game and the tie.

In the 1988/89 UEFA Cup quarter final they faced Hearts, losing 1-0 at Tynecastle. Iain Ferguson with the only goal of the game ten minutes into the second half.

The 1989/90 European Cup first round saw them paired with Rangers once more, and the visit to Ibrox was the decider in the tie as the German side ran out 3-1 winners. A Mark Walters penalty opened the scoring but was immediately cancelled out by an equaliser from Ludwig Kogl. Olaf Thon scored at the start of the second half with Klaus Augenthaler sealing the win midway through the second half.

Bayern’s second win in Scotland came in the 1995/96 season, when they won 2-0 away to Raith Rovers in the second round of the UEFA Cup courtesy of two goals from Jurgen Klinsmann. The second leg is the more exciting bit of that story though!

In the 1999/2000 Champions League group stage they were back to getting draws, once more with Rangers in a game that finished 1-1 and is probably remembered more for the injury to Michael Mols. Michael Tarnat’s last minute equaliser cancelling out Jorg Albertz’s first half opener.

The 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32 saw them visit Pittodrie again, and once again the Dons held their own and earned a 2-2 draw. Josh Walker and Sone Aluko twice gave Aberdeen the lead, with Miroslav Klose and Hamit Altintop levelling each time.

I’m also going to add in the one other time they faced Scottish opposition here because it won’t fit in either the home or away ties. The very first time Bayern played a Scottish side was Rangers in the 1966/67 Cup Winners’ Cup final. Just a week after Celtic had been crowned champions of Europe, and a month after the national side had humbled the world champions, Rangers had the chance to really cement Scotland’s place as the best nation in Europe. But after a goalless ninety minutes in Nuremberg, Franz Roth scored the only goal of the game in the second half of extra time to give Bayern their first European trophy.

Sadly the advent of the Super Cup was another five years away, so there’s no way to know how Bayern might have faced against Celtic that year.

Back in the present day, Bayern finished twelfth in the league phase thanks to five wins and three defeats. Like Celtic, most of their points came at home. They were top after match day one courtesy of their 9-2 demolition of Dinamo Zagreb. Harry Kane scored four goals that night, three of them from the penalty spot, with Raphael Guerreiro, Michael Olise with two, Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka with the other goals. Despite being three down at half time, Bruno Petkovic and Takuya Ogiwara did at one point bring the game back to 3-2!

But they lost 1-0 away to Aston Villa on match day two, Jhon Duran with the only goal.

They then lost 4-1 away to Barcelona. A Raphiniha hat trick as well as a goal from Robert Lewandowski was too much for Bayern whose only goal came through Harry Kane.

Bayern bounced back on match day four with a 1-0 win at home to Benfica, Jamal Musiala with the only goal of the game.

On match day five they beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at home, Kim Min-jae with the only goal of this game.

And their one win on the road came away to Shakhtar Donetsk in the form of a 5-1 demolition. A Brazilian called Kevin opened the scoring for Shakhtar, but by half time Bayern were ahead thanks to goals from Konrad Laimer and Thomas Müller. Michael Olise, Jamal Musiala and a penalty from Olise finished off the scoring in the second half.

On match day seven, they lost 3-0 away to Feyenoord. Two first half goals from Santiago Gimenez, one from the spot, and a late second half goal from Ayase Ueda seeing off Bayern.

But Bayern finished off their league phase with a 3-1 home win over Slovan Bratislava. Thomas Müller, Harry Kane and Kingsley Coman with the Bayern goals, Marko Tolic with a last minute consolation.

Bayern Munich are currently eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with thirteen games to play. On Friday they beat Werder Bremen 3-0 at home with two penalties from Harry Kane and a goal from Leroy Sane, and on Saturday they go to second placed reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Celtic are currently thirteen points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership with thirteen games to play. On Saturday they beat Raith Rovers 5-0 in the Scottish Cup to advance to the quarter finals, a hat trick from Daizen Maeda with Luke McCowan and Hyun-Jun Yang also getting in on the goals. On Saturday they host Dundee United in the league.

Good luck to Celtic tonight!