Victory is all that matters in a cup tie. We supporters have a massive part to play on Wednesday night.

I’ve always said, when we play a team managed by Derek McInnes it will be a tough game, and Saturday at Celtic Park versus Kilmarnock was no different. McInnes always has his teams well organised, add that to the fact that he once played for a team that no longer exists, and you have a clear picture of the situation. McInnes is the only manager in Scotland to defeat Brendan in a cup competition over his two spells in charge at Celtic, that’s a statistic that McInnes is very fortunate to have, because Celtic should have won the League Cup tie down at Kilmarnock at the beginning of last season, but as usual, thanks to the match officials, we lost, let’s make that the last time we lose.

Having said all that we should have had the game won by half-time, we missed at least three clear goal scoring opportunities, and dominated the first half, only to lose a dubious equaliser just before the break. There was a wee bit of nervousness in the second period of the match, I think that can happen when the score is level or tight. As I always say, the object of any cup-tie is to be in the next round, and we duly accomplished that target, so it was happy days leaving Celtic Park on Saturday night, we now look forward to tonight’s draw for the next round. Call me cynical, but I can see us travelling to Aberdeen of Hibernian in the next round, while the team from Govan will be given another home draw against some lower league team, how many times have they played away from home in the cup in the last five years against SPL opposition?

Back to Saturday, it was brilliant getting back to arguably our best starting eleven, once again our two wide forwards, Nico and Daizen did the damage for us, they have both been outstanding this season, and the only thing missing this time was a goal for Nico. It was also good to see Auston Trusty back to form, he had a difficult night last week up in Dundee, that will happen, the big man just needs to learn from it, and continue to grow his partnership with CCV. I think it’s showing that the team are missing the winter break in the sunshine, there is great pressure on the Celtic Players, they have to win every game, anything less is a disaster, the pressure is probably greater for players that are brought to the club, it will be completely new to them having to win every time you go on the pitch, if you can handle the pressure, then you will enjoy the success, just ask Callum McGregor.

Wednesday night is a massive game for us, only victory against BSC Young Boys is acceptable, it’s not often in a Champions League match that we are big favourites, but that is where the pressure comes into force. The opportunity to get to the playoff rounds is brilliant for Celtic, it has great financial benefits for the club, but it’s more about progressing in the competition, and enhancing our reputation as a Top European Team, that’s what we must strive for, it’s been a couple of decades now since we were a team to avoid playing because of our record, especially at Celtic Park, we need to get back to that standard, and we as supporters have our part to play as well. When Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, and Maldini talk about Celtic Park, they talk about the atmosphere, I think when we beat Barcelona we had 11% of the play, that’s how important our support is on Wednesday night, if by our noise we drive our players forward, then let’s all leave Celtic Park hoarse, and lets all go home happy that we have helped our team achieve their goal of qualifying, then we can look forward to the next chapter in this year’s Champions League.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.

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