When Celtic learned their Champions League fate, the general consensus was that the draw – save for the trips to face Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta – had been rather kind to Brendan Rodgers and his men.
On paper, the home games in particular looked to present the Scottish champions with a more than decent opportunity of garnering the points required to advance to the play-off stage in this newly expanded format of Europe’s top competition, and so far, things have gone relatively well.
A thumping win over Slovan Bratislava on the opening day was of course followed up by a crushing defeat in Dortmund, but after bringing back a hard-fought point from Bergamo, Celtic have come out of their first three games arguably ahead of where they thought they may be.
Now, it is time to seize the chance that lies before them as they kick off the final stretch by welcoming RB Leipzig to Celtic Park tomorrow night, the hardest of their remaining home games (in theory, at least) despite the German side toiling to three defeats from three in the competition so far this term.
With further matches at Celtic Park to come against Club Brugge and Young Boys either side of a trip to face Dinamo Zagreb, Rodgers’ side will be hoping to have the required points in the bag before the trip to Villa Park that rounds off their league section campaign, and when asked if they believe they can do just that, Cameron Carter-Vickers was in little doubt.
“I think so,” Carter-Vickers said.
“You like to think at home you can win games and that'll be the aim for the three games.
“All the games in the Champions League are a challenge. I thought the boys did really well away in Atalanta to get a point.
“For us, it's just about trying to get to the next stage of the competition, and if we can get something from the game on Tuesday, we'll almost be there.
“It'll be a tough game. The home games are definitely important. I think we've got Leipzig and two others at home. So, yeah, over the course of those three games, we're hoping to pick up as many points as possible and that'll definitely be important.”
The temptation upon Celtic’s return to home soil may well be to dispense with the rather more restrained approach that brought them their goalless draw against Atalanta, but Carter-Vickers sounded a note of caution against letting that handbrake go altogether.
“Ideally, when we go out, we want to try and dominate every game we play, but we know that's probably not possible when you play against the better teams,” he said.
“Like the boys showed again last week, I thought that kind of defensive resolve and being able to stick in games as well is going to be important for us Tuesday.
“I think we can do that. It's just about understanding what game we're in. As a team, everyone having the same idea and sticking together through the moments.
Read more:
“Like I said, last week we showed that, and we'll probably have to show that going forward in the competition as well.”
If they are to get another positive result and take a huge step towards their goal of qualification for the next stage of the competition, it is likely that Carter-Vickers will be a key figure.
Rodgers was unable to call upon him for the Atalanta game as he toiled with a toe injury suffered in an away game against St Mirren, and while Liam Scales and Auston Trusty performed magnificently on the night, the Celtic manager will be relieved to have his main man available once more at the back.
The frequency and timing of his injury setbacks over the past couple of seasons has meant he has missed around half of Celtic’s Champions League ties over that period, a frustration for him and a hindrance to his team’s chances of showing their best selves.
“Yeah, 100 per cent [it has been a frustration],” he said.
“Last season, it was the hamstring, which is probably more delicate than the toe. Hopefully, once I'm over the pain, then I should be good. But, yeah, that's what I want ideally.
“I just want to be playing games and staying fit throughout the season.
“I'm just like any other player, I want to play as much as I can. It's obviously frustrating when I can't, but it was good to be out there [on Saturday] and hopefully that continues.
“To be fair, I thought I was in a decent groove, a decent rhythm, before I had to stop for a bit. But it's good to be back playing now and hopefully the more games I play, the better I can get and the more rhythm I can get.”
Celtic will certainly go into the game brimming with confidence after their demolition of Aberdeen in Saturday’s League Cup Semi-Final at Hampden, with Carter-Vickers saying the nature of the win was an important statement after the draw between the sides at Celtic Park recently in the league.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said.
“I think the 2-2 game a little while ago against them showed us that they were ready to compete.
“I thought the way they came back in the second half of that game was pretty impressive, so we knew we had to be top of our game [on Saturday] to win the game.
“I think from the beginning, for 10-15 minutes it was probably a little bit cagey, but after that I thought we took control of the game and our quality kind of showed.”
