Vincent Kompany relishing Bayern Munich's visit to 'notorious' Celtic Park - 'It stayed with me'
Updated 12/02/2025 at 11:22 GMT
Vincent Kompany admitted that Celtic Park is the one stadium he wishes he could return to as a player, as his Bayern Munich side gear up to take on Celtic in Glasgow on Wednesday. The Bundesliga leaders have yet to find the consistency in the UEFA Champions League that they have in the league, and will need to be on form to survive a hostile Celtic crowd.
Kompany ranks Celtic Park in 'top three' noisiest stadiums in world football
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Vincent Kompany's Bayern Munich side will suffer the cauldron-like atmosphere of Celtic Park when the German giants head to Glasgow for their UEFA Champions League play-off clash.
Brendan Rodgers is hoping that the heated home crowd will give his side the advantage, and Kompany is equally looking forward to taking in the emotion.
"It's stayed with me for this long," the Belgian said about his previous visit to Celtic Park.
"I think City played here once when I was injured, but if I could have chosen to come back to one place as a player, it would have been here,
"It's not something that you approach with fear, I think you approach it with just a desire. In those games you can show how good you are. It doesn't always happen this way, that's why these places are notorious.
"But it happens as well, and as a player that's something I was looking forward to."
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Playing for Anderlecht as a 17-year-old at Celtic Park, Kompany recalled the feeling of playing on the iconic turf.
"Special," Kompany simply said. "The atmosphere, the psychology of the players that you're playing against being very different from what they were away from home.
"It's something that gives you a massive boost of experience for a young player in the moment. I think later in my career I found out you can enjoy these games as well. they're the ones you're looking forward to."
Bayern are starting to fly in the Bundesliga, losing just one match all season as they look to reclaim the crown that Bayer Leverkusen wrestled away from them last season.
But in European competition, Kompany's side have struggled for consistency.
Despite notching a win over Paris Saint-Germain and running up a rampant 9-2 scoreline against Dinamo Zagreb, they suffered heavy losses to Barcelona and Feyenoord, and even fell 1-0 to Aston Villa.
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The Bavarians are desperate to make up for last season, which was their first trophy-less campaign since 2011-12.
"I think in the games where we did well we looked like the team we've been in the Bundesliga. And in the games where we lost, I think there were three different stories there.
"But the advantage is that if you look at the games we played after that, we always reacted. We've always been able to win many games after those defeats.
"So in terms of the mindset of the team it's good, but now we're dealing with a two-legged game."
Kompany has battled Rodgers in the past as a player while the Northern Irishman managed Liverpool and Leicester City, and feels he has a good handle on how his teams play ahead of Wednesday's tussle.
"My very last game at the Etihad in the Premier League was against him. His teams press, they make you work to recover the ball. He was always very innovative and we played against his teams many times, with Liverpool with [Luis] Suarez, [Daniel] Sturridge, [Raheem] Sterling, it was a pretty formidable team.
"He's a manager with experience and still coaching a club that means a lot in the world. But ultimately I think he knows as much as I do that it's the players who are going to face each other on the pitch."
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