The Celtic weapon to gun down Bayern is hiding in plain sight says legend who's done it before
German complacency could be Celtic’s biggest Champions League weapon against Bayern Munich.
That is the view of Aberdeen and Scotland legend Willie Miller. The Bundesliga giants hold a 2-1 lead from Glasgow last week and will be looking to finish the job at the Allianz Arena and progress through the play-off round. Miller famously helped Aberdeen to see off Bayern Munich on their way to European Cup Winners Cup glory in 1983.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side drew 0-0 in the Olympic Stadium and then beat them 3-2 at Pittodrie. Miller reckons complacency helped his Dons to glory and could well come into play this week. The Dons legend insisted: “Celtic going into the game, it is a huge task for them to turn a deficit round away from them. “But it’s not impossible but it’s huge and Celtic will know that. “Perhaps Bayern will have that kind of a superiority complex that might just help Celtic in their journey.
“I think Celtic have got to go in there with belief. “Celtic are a top quality team and they’ve done well in the Champions League, so they’ve been tested at a high level. This is probably a step further and because you’ve got the deficit, you’ve got the one goal deficit to try and turn that around.
“So they’ll be getting in as underdogs. I think Bayern will feel that perhaps the job was done at Celtic Park. But Celtic have got to go in there with the belief that anything can happen in football.”
Miller points to one of the biggest moments of Bayern Munich complacency came when they lost the Champions League to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United back in 1999, when Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both scored to win it in stoppage time. The former Scotland star admitted: “There was a feeling they would beat us in the Cup Winners Cup and we have seen it throughout the years with Bayern.
“Look at Manchester United and the Champions League final that Sir Alex Ferguson won against them. The goals were scored late on and you just felt that Bayern had thought that the job had been done.
“You’re getting into time added on and Man Utd are down, but they managed to turn it around. So football can be like that.”
Aberdeen famously got a draw in Munich thanks to a Dons’ defensive masterclass. Miller recalled: “My memory is that it was a very good all-round performance from the team. We got a good result but it could have been even better because we had some chances. “I think they maybe took us a little bit too lightly.
“I think sometimes the Germans have that kind of a way about them. They were full of West German international players as well with a great deal of experience and quality.
“We were up against some of the best players in the world at that time as well. It was a very satisfying result but obviously there’s a lot of work still to be done in terms of taking the game back to PIttodrie. We still felt that at that time the German teams were the best teams in Europe.”
There, however, was to be a literal kick in the teeth for Miller from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge that cost him his front tooth. “He was famous for his overhead kicks actually,” Miller admitted. “That’s basically what happened. “I was daft enough to stick my head in front of one of his overhead kicks and caught his boot in my front tooth and it just popped out.
“It was rather painful at the time, but you just play on. I was going to say take it in the chin, but of course it was more in the teeth.
“He was very kind about it actually. After the game, he asked if he wanted him to help me him find my tooth. We had a quick look, but we couldn’t find it.”
Rummenigge and Miller’s paths crossed again when the Dons took on Bayern again in the UEFA Cup in 2008. Miller was director of football and the German legend travelled with his former club, but any talk of 1983 was quickly dismissed. Miller admitted: “We actually had Karl-Heinz Rummenige and Paul Breitner for dinner as guests that day in Aberdeen when they came back to play Jimmy Calderwood’s team. “They had a very short memory of our famous victory against them back in 1983. Whenever I brought it up, I was rubber-eared and I just moved on.”
Aberdeen got a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie but were blown away 5-1 in the Allianz Arena last time out. Celtic head to the same venue Miller claimed: “The 2-2 draw at home was quite an interesting contest.
“The stadium was completely different. “It’s a magnificent stadium now. “Really impressive as you drove up to it. It’s like something from another world, isn’t it?
“They were just too good for us at that time and beat us 5-1 It was a huge task, a major challenge for the team at that time, but it was lucrative financially.
“From that point of view, it allowed Aberdeen to play against one of the best teams in Europe, make a bit of money in the process.”
Celtic, if they could clinch a famous win in Munich, would financially be hitting an even bigger jackpot in the knockout proper.
