Celtic run the numbers on creating Champions League history as star knows seismic night will see them 'almost there'
The Hoops' star defender got his team off and running at Hampden vs Aberdeen and now he's ready for the Champions League
Cameron Carter-Vickers believes Celtic can launch a powerful Parkhead push towards the Champions League playoffs.
But the American ace says his team will also need more away-day grit on their own patch as they press for Euro progression. Brendan Rodgers' team are gearing up for Tuesday's showpiece showdown against German cracks RB Leipzig. Having booked their place in next month’s Premier Sports Cup Final with a 6-0 annihilation of Aberdeen, Celtic now turn attention back to their continental bid.
With four points on the board from their opening three league-phase matches, Rodgers troops now tackle the Bundesliga big guns. Three of Celtic’s next four matches in the competition are at home with Club Brugge and Young Boys also visiting after Leipzig. Rodgers’ team thumped Slovan Bratislava in Glasgow’s East End to get their campaign started and want more crucial wins on their own turf as they push for a place in the play-offs.
Carter-Vickers feels the upcoming trio of home encounters could be defining as he said: “I think so. You like to think at home you can win games and that’ll be the aim for the three games. Obviously, the home games are definitely important. I think we’ve got Leipzig and two others at home. So, yeah, over the course of those three games, we’re hoping to pick up as many points as possible and that’ll definitely be important.”
Carter-Vickers says seizing a result against Leipzig would be a big step towards qualification and added: “It will be a tough game. For us, it’s just about trying to get to the next stage of the competition and, if we can get something from the game on Tuesday, we’ll almost be there.”
Rodgers' troops are determined to make home advantage count, but showed a resilient side in Bergamo to secure a crucial point last time out against Atalanta. Celtic needed a rear-guard action in Italy and Carter-Vickers admits his team will need similar traits against Leipzig.
He explained: “Ideally, when we go out, we want to try and dominate every game we play, but we know that’s probably not possible when you play against the better teams. Like the boys showed [against Atalanta], I thought that kind of defensive resolve and being able to stick in games as well is going to be important for us Tuesday.
“I think we can do that. It’s just about understanding what game we’re in and, as a team, everyone having the same idea and sticking together through the moments. Like I said, we showed that and we’ll probably have to show that going forward in the competition as well.
“Obviously, all the games in the Champions League are a challenge. I thought the boys did really well away in Atlanta to get a point. It’ll be good.”
Ahead of renewing their Euro bid, Celtic displayed their domestic power with their Hampden hammering of the Dons. Carter-Vickers was delighted his team showed their class to demonstrate their domestic strength as he said: “Yeah, I think so. I think the 2-2 game a little while ago against them showed us that they were ready to compete.
“I thought the way they came back in the second-half of that game was pretty impressive, so we knew we had to be at the top of our game to win. At the beginning, 10-15 minutes was probably a little bit cagey, but after that I thought we took control of the game and our quality kind of showed.”