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Celtic equal 14-year Champions League record in RB Leipzig hammering

Celtic's Reo Hatate celebrates with Nicolas Kuhn as he scores to make it 3-1
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Celtic's dominant Champions League win over RB Leipzig saw them equal a 14-year club record in the process.

Gordon Strachan was in the dugout 14 years ago and until last night he remained the last Celtic manager to lead the side to three consecutive Champions League victories at home until Brendan Rodgers equalled that tally on Tuesday night. Their 3-1, come-from-behind win over their Bundesliga opponents will be a famous night for the club, with a Nicolas Kuhn double followed up by a Reo Hatate strike continuing their fine European form this season - particularly at home.

The side's three-game winning streak runs across a 2-1 victory vs Feyenoord, a 5-1 trouncing of Slovan Bratislava earlier this season, and their victory last night. Next up, they host Club Brugge at home and will be hoping to extend the streak given their current home form.

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Furthermore, there's another European hoodoo that was broken last night. In 28 previous games before last night when falling behind first, Celtic had only won once - against Borussia Monchengladbach in 2016. But their win against RB Leipzig will give them much more confidence that they are capable of pulling off comeback victories in Europe more frequently.

Speaking post-match Rodgers said: “It gives a real nice confidence for the team. I think we’ve discovered in the last two games that we can be really competitive.

“If you’d said after the Dortmund game that we would have got four points from Atalanta and Red Bull Leipzig, probably not too many people would have said we would have done that.

“But I think we’ve discovered that we can play at the level. So it’s a great next step.

“To have seven points after four games, especially with the level of performance that we’ve played, gives us great encouragement.

“It means in the next four games we can have a real confidence to go and make the play-off stage, but it’s still such a long way to go.”