Aaron Mooy admits it’s been worth waiting all of his 32 years to finally savour the spine tingling atmosphere of the Champions League.
The Aussie is loving life at Europe’s top table as Ange Postecoglou’ s team go head to head with the elite. Mooy always dreamed about taking part in this continent’s biggest club show. Hearing the tournament anthem blasting out before games, the midfielder imagined being out there and taking in the sound as a participant one day. Now that day has come. Mooy is now living that dream with Celtic in Group F and he is cherishing the opportunity.
Surrounded by younger colleagues within Postecolgou’s set-up, it has taken the international a bit longer to get there than some of his team-mates. But that’s just making it all the more special as he said: “Yeah, it’s amazing. I’m loving it. Every time they play the song. I always dreamed of hearing that music when I was playing. Even when I am coming on in the matches, it’s still an amazing feeling.
“You watch Champions League on the TV growing up and you hear the song and you think, ‘One day could you imagine playing in that’. But when you get on the field, you don’t think about it, you just think about playing football and doing what you do every day and every week.”
While Mooy has had to wait for his opportunity, engine-room team-mates such as Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley have slotted into the Champions League with ease despite, by comparison, their tender years. Although many of the squad are inexperienced at that level, Celtic are showing no signs of fear in the section and, having given Real Madrid a battle in their opening game, managed to put a first point on the board after a draw with Shakhtar Donetsk.
In truth, Postecoglou’s team could, and should, have brought more back from Warsaw. The Scottish champions dominated for lengthy spells of the game in Poland and the performance has the manager believing wins are just around the corner if his team maintains the level of displays shown in the first two group games.
Mooy isn’t shocked at the way his colleagues have eased into life amongst the elite and said: “There is so much talent in the squad. I try to think back about what I was doing at their age and I wasn’t that good. I’m a bit older, so maybe it’s a bit different for the younger guys but we believe in ourselves and that is what you have to have to do if you want to compete at this level.
“Everyone is different but I try not to think about the occasion and try to think only about the actual football game. That’s what I think but it seems like everyone is comfortable and we are just focusing on how we want to play and following what we do in training. That’s what we are doing. We were just a little bit off (against Shakhtar).”
Mooy’s little bit of reference came from the fact that his team just didn’t have the lethal edge to turn their impressive performance into a win. For the opening half an hour against the Ukrainians, Postecoglou’s men were too quick, too sharp and too strong for their hosts.
Having taken the lead, they had control before a 15-minute spell prior to the interval cost them an equaliser. Celtic re-established their authority after the interval and would have triumphed had they managed to take just one of the host of opportunities they carved out.
Subs Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda missed big chances near the end, while other moments came and went with Jota almost getting on the scoresheet twice following mazy runs and O’Riley being denied by the home keeper and backline. Mooy admits there’s a bit of irritation in the dressing room that just one and not all three points boarded the flight back to Glasgow.
Asked if there was disappointment in the dressing room afterwards, he said: “Yes, there was a bit. It was a bit similar to Real Madrid in that we had good chances and we didn’t put them away and it was a bit disappointing that we didn’t get a win. We did quite well. We created lots and enough chances to win the game and we just lacked a little bit of composure and concentration when we had the chances.”
Celtic will go up against RB Leipzig next in the Champions League but, for the moment, immediate matters of domestic and international action take centre stage. On Sunday, Mooy returns to his former club St Mirren as the defending champions aim to extend their 100 per cent start to the Premiership.
An international break back Down Under follows his trip to familiar Paisley surroundings and the Aussie said: “We’ve got friendly games for Australia. We play New Zealand and it’s like a send off game. It’s the last before the World Cup so I’ll look
forward to it.”
It’s a huge spell for both club and country but there’s nowhere else Mooy would rather be as he said: “That is what you want, isn’t it?”
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