MARCO Rose was the manager of Red Bull Salzburg when the Austrian club beat Celtic 2-1 at Parkhead back in 2018 to finish their Europa League group with maximum points.
But the German, who took over at RB Leipzig last month, believes overseeing that hard-fought away win will not be any help to him when the Bundesliga club take on their Premiership rivals in the Champions League in Glasgow tonight.
Rose expects Ange Postecoglou’s side will present completely different challenges to the Brendan Rodgers’ team that Salzburg faced in the East End four years ago and is preparing for an entirely different match.
“I can’t take anything from that game,” he said. “It’s a new game, a new strategy. The whole game has to be about how we focus and doing our best.
“We just have to rely on the fact that tomorrow night it will this excellent stadium with amazing fans and a great atmosphere. We will be doing all we can.
“Our young players will each bring their own experience to the game. We will be encouraging them to do their best but also to look for what they can exploit, to take their chances, to enjoy the game and make the most of their experience in this wonderful stadium.
Leipzig won 3-1 in the Group F match against Celtic at the Red Bull Arena last week and can take a giant stride towards the last 16 of the competition with an away victory at Parkhead this evening.
“Of course we took the game as a preparation for this week,” said Rose. “We are looking exactly at the set up we used and how we can improve on details.
“Victories are always sweet and of course we want to win. But we also have to make sure we enjoy the game. It’s the joy of the game and the winning and we’ll work towards that.”
Meanwhile, Andre Silva, the Portuguese striker who scored two goals in Saxony last Wednesday night, has admitted he is determined to score against Celtic at Parkhead as well.
“The key is to try to make the decisions we made in Leipzig,” he said. “We know that it will not be so easy because of the environment here and the fans. But the key is to be better than them and to be alert from the first minute to the last.”
“It is never about only me. It is about the team and what we need to do is score more goals than Celtic to win.
“As a team we need to be prepared. The environment will be difficult. We’ll need to be compact and to put in all the power we showed in the last game, and in our last training, to win.
“But I am always confident that I will score. Always in my head I imagine the ball going into the net. I think as a player I love to be in this environment, I love to be in this stadium.
“This type of game, a Champions League night, it is for this that we are here. It is what we dream of as a kid. The feeling that I have is only good and I hope that gives me the right way to score more.”
