In the end there was no fairytale ending but for three weeks there was a little optimism surrounding Celtic’s trip to face Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena.
As Brendan Rodgers takes Celtic forward there will be set-backs but under the Irishman the club is most certainly progressing and developing a game that they can take to anywhere in the continent. Ask Anderlecht.
From losing seven away to Barcelona to three in Bayern is slow progress but along the way Kieran Tierney, Craig Gordon, Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths and others are getting more familiar with the demands of the European game.
Exactly where Bayern are at the moment is hard to judge but of little interest to the 10,000 Celtic fans that made the trip to Munich.
There were a few passages that suggested that Celtic were getting comfortable at this level but the bulk of the journey is still to be completed by Rodgers’ squad.
Whether the group stage is half full or half empty only time will tell but with two home matches to come there is still plenty to look forward to in the Champions League before dropping down into the Europa League in the new year.
Allianz Huddle
It was an inspiring sight for the thousands of Celtic fans looking down on the Allianz Arena from all three tiers of the stadium.
The huddle was created in Germany by Tony Mowbray- 22 years later in Bayern’s spaceship home Celtic were going in to battle against one of the real power houses of the game.
The battle may have been one sided but in a fortnight we’ll have them at our place and stranger things have happened in the east end air.
Stuart Armstrong
His name, his hair and his belters were sung about throughout the day but the evening didn’t turn out as Armstrong would have wished.
There were a couple of openings but more often than not the former Dundee United man was droping deeper and deeper to help out Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham.
He’ll have learned from this, the standards to aspire to but also a level above anything that he is likely to face in the Europa League.
Keep them out
It was grim and dogged at times but one way or another we mainly kept Bayern out.
Arsenal lost 10 goals to the same club earlier this year over two matches and while they carrry that threat Celtic were well enough aware to keep them at bay.
This picture won’t feature in any coaching manual but it did it’s job with the Celtic players discovering a side to their game that is rarely called upon domestically.
That sinking feeling
It never gets any easier, regardless of the circumstances.
Bigger teams have crumbled in the Allianz Arena but for successful international footballers getting used to losing is something that can never be contemplated.
Last month they were celebrating a win in Anderlecht but this game is the original School of Hard Knocks with Bayern emerging from ‘crisis’ to handle Celtic.
Aiming high and higher
He knows the size of the task that he is facing but won’t park the bus.
Cynics might sneer at his philosophy but perhaps playing the way he wants to see his side allows them to take the chance and inflict a sore one on Anderlecht.
The Champions League will have more pain to inflict but two years ago Celtic were losing back to back matches to Molde.
Forrest fires
He didn’t do himself any harm in his run out with James Forrest able to add some pace and purpose to Celtic’s efforts.
Roberts and Forrest are used in almost every fixture with Brendan Rodgers happy to vary the plans of attack to ensure that he fully uses all of his assets.
Forrest has made a big contribution to this campaign with valuable goals against Rosenborg and Astana- hopefully there are still more to come.
Doubling up
Not text book but sometimes two tackles are better than one!
In the second half it was all hands on deck as respectability was at stake through the scoreline.
Bayern used the space of the Allianz Arena to great effect, especially down the flanks but both Kieran Tierney and Dedryc Boyata stood up well to the challenges they faced.
Robbed
His CV includes PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea and Real Madrid but thee are no signs of Arjen Robben easing up although he has called a day on his international career.
The Dutchman still has the pace, touches and most importantly of all the desire to succeed. He won’t be resting on his laurels.
Kieran Tierney got a close up view of the standard of player he will be up against but survived the ordeal showing the awareness of a veteran at times to keep everything respectable.
Genius at work?
Will his future career take him back to Bayern one day- with the home side or as an opponent.
Roberts put in some good runs but the quality of his opponents was greater than that of his team-mates- unfortunately.
The Manchester City kid is comfortable at this level and developing game by game, there could be an interesting run coming up in the Europa League to home his skills in.
PICTURE 10
A League Cup Semi Final at Hampden must have been the furthest thing from the players minds as they heard the final whistle blow.
Hibs and Neil Lennon will be waiting 60 hours after this picture was taken with the process for that match already well underway.
Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor look fairly certain to start as Brendan Rodgers looks to extend his fou match winning run at Hampden.