WHEN Ange Postecoglou used to pick Ferenc Puskas up and give him a lift to training, he would be embarrassed at pulling up in what he calls his ‘crappy old car’. Now, he knows there would be no one prouder of him than Puskas as he prepares to take on Real Madrid as Celtic manager.
Postecoglou has often spoken about the influence that Puskas had on him as a player, a manager and ultimately a person, with the pair forming a bond when Postecoglou played under the Hungarian great at South Melbourne between 1989 and 1992.
The Greek-Australian doubled up as club captain and an interpreter for his manager, with Puskas having coached Panathinaikos to the European Cup Final before making the move down under, and his Greek at the time being significantly better than his English.
Puskas passed away of course in 2006, but if he was still here, Postecoglou knows that he would have been delighted to see his protégé taking on his beloved Real Madrid as they played in the tournament he himself became synonymous with as a three-time champion.
“He’d have taken a hell of a lot of pride in this because he was a massive influence on my career,” Postecoglou said. “He’d have loved seeing me lead a team out against his side.
“I think it’s fair most people would [have a bond with Madrid because of that relationship]. If you are a football lover then Real Madrid is one of those iconic clubs. They are the most successful team in the history of the European Cup and Champions League.
“They’ve had a long history of unbelievable success. Some of the world’s best players have gone through their ranks. And that teams that Ferenc Puskas was a part of, was a very special team. They created a lot of the foundations of what you see today.
“The fact that I had a relationship with one of the key people in that, I’ve always felt that it was a blessing for me.
“Certainly when I was with Ferenc for those three years, I tried to tap into as much of his experiences as possible.
“I’d read the stories and watched television pictures but to get a first-hand account of what it was like to be a part of that special team was great.”
What would make Puskas even prouder, Postecoglou is sure, is if that his team make a fist of it against the Spanish giants.
“You want to be in this competition,” he said. “You want to test yourself against the best and we’ve got the very best in our group. They have got great pedigree in the competition and are the reigning holders.
“What a great opportunity for us to measure ourselves and have an experience that we want to be a part of.
“It’s exciting. The first thing is it’s great that we are in it.
“You kind of realise how special it is when you part of the draw and he and the anticipation. That’s where you want your football club to be.
“It’s exciting and now we know our group as well. I’m just really looking forward to it and experiencing the special nature of the competition.”
Once the initial excitement at drawing Real Madrid had subsided just a little, an assessment of the other opponents Celtic will face in Group F left many fans and pundits optimistic that the Scottish champions may even be able to progress to the knockout stages of the competition.
Postecoglou is taking nothing for granted though, and has warned that RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk will provide huge obstacles to his side’s chances of qualification. Celtic, after all, were the pot four team in the section for a reason.
“It’s tough whatever groups you get,” he said. “I know people who do the old on paper exercise, and on paper to me, this looks extremely tough.
“The reality is that there’s a reason why we’re in pot four and the other teams in our group are in higher pots. That’s because recently, these teams have had a really strong Champions League pedigree. That’s the way I look at it.
“I think that it’s a tough group and any group we could have got would have been tough because our own recent experiences in Europe haven’t reached the heights of others.
“For us, that’s the challenge. If you look at this group and see anything other than a really tough challenge then I think you aren’t really looking close enough.
“[RB Leipzig] are at Champions League level. I think European experience counts for a lot and if you look at recent years, they have been involved in these games at this level.
“When you do that for multiple years it does build an atmosphere around the squad to deal with things at this level.
“That is our challenge as a football club – to make sure this is not a one-off experience. We want to be a strong enough team and a club to do this every year because that’s how you build a successful club at that level.
“Leipzig have had a lot of personnel change and they’ve bought in some good players this year. They’ve maybe made a slow start in the Bundesliga but they will climb up the table and they will be a formidable opponent in the Champions League.
“[Shakhtar] are in a strange situation, and you feel for everyone with what their nation is going through.
“You can understand the effect on them. You only have to look at Ukraine's performances as a national team in the last six months. We saw against Scotland there was a real determination there to keep on playing and making their country proud.
“Add that to the fact they are regularly a Champions League level team and it will be a really good test for us.”
