MANY years from now, Celtic may come up against Atletico Madrid in European competition once more. And if they do, defender Greg Taylor hopes it may be the Scottish side who have reason to commemorate a glorious result of the past.
The Celtic left back has been made aware of the fact that the Spaniards have – somewhat controversially – chosen to honour their 1974 European Cup semi-final triumph over tonight’s opponents by wearing a replica of the kit they wore in Glasgow on that infamous night at Celtic Park 49 years ago.
Celtic fans of a certain vintage will no doubt be angered by the gesture. Perhaps not as much as they were by the tactics adopted by the Spaniards on that evening as they kicked and scrapped their way to a 0-0 draw - picking up three red cards and seven yellows along the way – before closing out the tie in Madrid.
Taylor is also aware that Diego Simeone’s team may adopt the dark arts in their pursuit of victory in the Champions League this evening, though probably not the same extent as the men they will be sartorially celebrating.
But he is hoping that the game is remembered for all the right reasons from a Celtic point of view, as the hosts go in search of their first home win at this level for a decade.
“Yes, I’ve heard [about the strips],” Taylor said.
“I’ve been made aware that it was a right encounter …
“One of the Spanish journalists said that Atletico are wearing shirts to commemorate that game. I think it was quite an iconic game for the cards and the tackles etc.
“Hopefully it’s an iconic game [on Wednesday] night but not for those reasons – for a win for us.
“I’ve no opinion, to be fair. We’ll just focus on us. There’s been many special nights here, but we want to create our own history.
“Getting to play in the Champions league is of course a massive honour, but as this current team, we want to create our own history.
“We also want to get European football after Christmas, so we know we have to put points on the board, and we want to do that playing the way that we want to.
“A lot of the younger generation come to watch us and to them the players who are out there are heroes.
“You want to create history for them with this group of players. We’ve got such a good group, a group that’s so eager to do well, so many talented players.
“There’s no reason why we can’t. It’s just about taking that next step.”
Taylor knows first hand just how difficult that will be, having come up against Atletico’s star man Antoine Griezmann in the national team’s recent friendly against France, and having watched striker Alvaro Morata from close quarters in Spain’s win over Scotland too.
He hopes that those experiences will stand him in good stead when he comes up against those players this evening.
“They are a world class team with world class players and a world class manager, so it is going to be a difficult game,” he said.
“We know that. But it’s the same we do with every game. We’ll go in with a plan that we hope to execute and if we can execute it near perfect, we can get the result we want.
“I played against Griezmann and watched Morata when I was on the bench for Scotland. Two top, top players.
“Griezmann found pockets all over the pitch and was very difficult to pick up. He is a real clever player, and we will need to watch out for him.
“Morata obviously scored against us for Spain and his movement in and around the box and his link up play is right up there with all the best strikers.
“They are two difficult opponents but it’s not just those two, it’s the whole squad. Atletico have a lot of top players, so we know it will be a difficult game.
“[That experience] will be useful in terms of seeing the type of positions these players take. But we do our analysis with the coaches and the manager, to see what Atletico do over the piece. We are really well prepared and have a great team behind us.
“For us, we’ve got to work as a unit to stop these players. To just go man for man against players of that quality is really difficult.
“We’ve got a structure, and that doesn’t mean it has to be a defensive structure, it can be pressing from the front and that is what we will try to do.
“That’s the aim.”
Taylor cut a demoralised figure as he addressed the media in the immediate aftermath of Celtic's last Champions League outing, with the last-gasp home defeat to Lazio still all too raw.
Those wounds don't seem quite to have healed just yet, and it may only be a win over Atletico this evening that will salve them.
Certainly, he doesn't want to be in a position where he is wheeled out again late tonight to talk about the lessons Celtic are learning against top level opposition without anything tangible to show for their progress, even though he knows the areas in which his side need to sharpen up.
“The small details," he said.
"Your game plan needs to be almost perfect, and when you make the small errors you normally get punished for them.
“Certainly, the last Champions League game was a really sore one to take, so we want to try to make up for that tomorrow night.
“We don’t want to be a team that is praised for performances but don’t quite get results.
“I’m very wary of that, because it’s not what the fans deserve. As you’ll see on Wednesday night it will be an unbelievable atmosphere and we know how special that is.
“We want to give them results to match it, not just elements of performance.”
