It would be an understatement to say that most people did not see Celtic's win over RB Leipzig coming. In recent years, the club have put on good performances against top teams but never managed to get results. It changed at Parkhead this time around, as Brendan Rodgers' side won 3-1 against a team that is competing for the Bundesliga title. It is one of their biggest Champions League wins in recent memory.
Nicolas Kuhn scored a wonderful opener, one of the great Champions League goals in Celtic history. Then, they found the back of the net a second time, with his clever positioning in the box. Reo Hatate was the other one on the scoresheet for the Hoops.
It was RB Leipzig who had actually opened the scoring on the night. Christoph Baumgartner scored after Celtic failed to clear a corner.
So, what led to Celtic turning it around? Of course, they showed a lot of quality. But at the same time, they appeared to want it more than their opponents as well. As reported by RB Leipzig's official website, Baumgartner said:
"Every player wanted the ball tonight for Celtic, that’s something that both them and BVB did better than us. We need to examine our performances and be tough on ourselves.
Small things are decisive at this level. Our opponents have been better in this regard in our last two games, we can’t deny that."
Fans will love Christoph Baumgartner's claim about Celtic players
Celtic's press was one of the most impressive aspects of their performance. Their performance against RB Leipzig, and the one vs Borussia Dortmund, was night and day.
With this result, Celtic now find themselves with seven points after the first four games. Considering they had games against Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta and RB Leipzig, nobody would have predicted this.
On the other hand, RB Leipzig find themselves in a world of trouble. They have lost all four of their games in the Champions League so far this season. There is still a long way to go in the League Phase of the competition but it feels unlikely that the German side will be successful in turning it around.