Ange Postecoglou is gearing up for the biggest challenge of his managerial career in typical fashio- by preparing to attack Real Madrid in the Bernabeu Sadium.
Less than 18 months after swapping the J-League to take on a massive rebuild job at Celtic the former Socceroos boss finds himself facing 90 minutes that seemed like a pipedream.
Through complete conviction in his ways Postecoglou took Celtic to last season’s SPFL title which came with the reward of a group place in the Champions League.
When the draw was made, after umpteen matches with Barcelona the Celtic support got the Madrid trip that had proved elusive in their 21 year Champions League journey.
Celtic won’t be playing any more European matches this season but rather than go for a damage limitation Postecoglou is determined to push Real all the way on Wednesday night.
Speaking to The Sun, the Celtic boss said:
I’m really proud of the players, it would’ve been easier just to go out there with damage limitation on your mind but they’re looking forward to testing themselves again.
The only way to get something out of these experiences is by not going into your shell and fearing what the outcome’s going to be, but by taking as bold an approach as we can.
Yes, we’re disappointed, yes we wanted our results to be better but no-one can tell me we haven’t gone into every game playing our football and testing ourselves.
And whether people think that deserves merit or not is kind of irrelevant to me.I’m under no illusions as to the areas where we need to improve, and neither are the players.
Postecoglou will host a media conference tomorrow in Madrid.