Martin O’Neill delivered a little piece of history in what will surely be his final game in Europe as a manager. O’Neill created such wonderful European memories for Celtic’s support during his first tenure as the manager that departing with a smile felt entirely valid. In Stuttgart, Celtic won their first ever competitive game in Germany. It took them 17 attempts.
Luke McCowan’s goal after 33 seconds was irrelevant in the broader context of this tie. Stuttgart’s 4-1 canter in Glasgow a week earlier ensured that. Still, a game that had the whiff of irrelevance for Celtic delivered cheer. The statistics will show Stuttgart spent much of the evening camped in Celtic’s half but the Scottish champions played with a diligence and discipline that it worthy of great credit. Sebastian Tounekti should even have scored a second Celtic goal in the closing minutes. By then, Stuttgart were going through the motions.
There had appeared little to excite both sets of players. Not only were Stuttgart essentially sure of progression but their current position of fourth in the Bundesliga invited a sense of bigger fish to fry. Celtic head to Ibrox on Sunday at the start of a week that is likely to define their domestic season. O’Neill unsurprisingly changed eight players from the weekend loss to Hibernian.
During the first half there was cause to ponder how on earth Stuttgart managed to score four in Glasgow. The hosts were ponderous and wasteful, a matter due in part to changes in attack but hardly a scenario that will spread fear through the other teams left in this competition. Viljami Sinisalo, preferred to Kasper Schmeichel in the Celtic goal, was not forced into significant action.
The opening goal involved swift, effective Celtic play. Callum McGregor fed Yang Hyun-jun, who found Junior Adamu. McCowan strode forward to meet Adamu’s pinpoint cross with his left foot, with Alexander Nübel given no chance. McCowan was Celtic’s stand-out performer during the opening period, the former Dundee player continually taking up positions that seemed to confuse the Germans.
If that goal was unlikely to rattle Stuttgart, Daizen Maeda should have altered the atmosphere. Instead, the Japanese forward fluffed his lines from Adamu’s cross. Stuttgart’s reply involved domination of possession but a complete loss of focus or imagination when within 30 yards of the visitors’ goal. Against a makeshift Celtic defence, this constituted strange stuff.
Sebastian Hoeness used the interval to replace Jamie Leweling with Chris Führich. The switch almost paid instant dividends as Führich raced past Colby Donovan. From the resultant cross, Badredine Bouanani panicked instead of levelling the score. The next act of profligacy belonged to Tiago Tomás, who slashed a half volley wide.
There was brief concern for O’Neill when McGregor, his captain, fell in a heap after feeling the full force of Tomás’s boot on his thigh. The midfielder was fine to play on after a brief stoppage, easing any fears he could miss the Old Firm fixture. O’Neill would have been left to rue his selection of McGregor here had the incident appeared as serious as first appeared. It would also have left McGregor to curse this venue; he was part of the Scotland team who meekly exited Euro 2024 in Stuttgart.
Sinisalo saved smartly, low and to his left, from Bouanani. Celtic were now only 25 minutes from that overdue win on German soil. Führich, who had beefed up the Stuttgart attack, had the ball in the Celtic net only for the strike to be correctly disallowed for offside. The officials denied Stuttgart again – and again rightly – as the substitute Ermedin Demirovic screamed for a penalty when challenged by Auston Trusty.
Moments of wonderful chaos followed. Stuttgart believed Deniz Undav had equalised with an 18-yard shot which Sinisalo should probably have done better with. Celtic were furious on two counts; they had been trying to make a substitution when the referee restarted play with a drop ball and Demirovic had returned from treatment to immediately play a key role in the attack. The goal was disallowed, apparently for Demirovic’s illegal involvement. To add to the hilarity, television footage apparently meant to prove Demirovic was offside showed the 27-year-old was on. Had this incident materially mattered, it would have provoked quite the debate.
By now, 3,000 Celtic supporters were in party mode. Will this prove a high point of their season’s denouement or a springboard for greater things? Time, fascinating time, shall tell.