Celtic were the better team in the eyes of many despite drawing against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena and getting eliminated from the UEFA Champions League on aggregate. The fact of the matter is that the Hoops were just seconds away from winning 1-0 over the Bavarian giants in their own backyard and taking the tie to extra-time. How many teams have even come close to that?
Celtic fans were proud of the performance that the Bhoys put in at the Allianz Arena. That being said, it is not like they did not make any errors in this tie.
Now, it is time to take a look at where things went wrong. And hopefully, make the right adjustments in order to progress further in Europe in the future.
Thierry Henry pointed out Celtic's defending in the first leg at home. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the French legend told CBS Sports on Paramount+:
"If you look at both of the games, I would say that the team who had the most chances was Celtic. Both of the games.
“In Europe, it’s home and away. People always stay with the live game. They lost at home, with that corner!
“Then, you are going to be here (in Munich) saying, ‘we should have taken our chances’. You can’t defend how you defended at your place. Yes, they did better, but they didn’t go through."
Thierry Henry makes bold claim about why Celtic lost to Bayern Munich
At the end of the day, perhaps that is too dry of a way to take at what this game meant for Celtic. They had not even made it to this stage of the competition in over a decade.
And then when they did, they were handed a tie against one of the best teams in Europe. The Hoops could have easily have given up before a ball was kicked and hoped to just keep the scoreline respectable.
They did not do that. Instead, they took the game to Bayern Munich and almost won in their own backyard. That deserves a ton of credit.
Yes, there were errors along the way. The defending in the first leg was one of them. Greg Taylor's defending for Michael Olise's opener and leaving Harry Kane open in the box. But overall, this was a positive experience.