FORMER Celtic midfielder Paul Lambert thinks it is time for the club to make a mark in the Champions League rather than looking to learn from the experience of taking part.
Brendan Rodgers’ side face Bayern Munich this evening in the fourth week of Group B fixtures, after heavy defeats to the German club and Paris Saint-Germain and a win over Anderlecht.
Defeat at Parkhead this evening would end the Hoops’ aspirations of reaching the knockout stages and Lambert believes it is the ideal chance for the club to show they can compete at the top level rather than being content with simply taking part.
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Beating Bayern Munich wouldn’t define my Celtic tenure
He told BBC Scotland: "I don't think you learn in the Champions League, you have to hit the ground running.
"It's too big a competition to say you are learning all the time.
"Yes, you might get the experience but I think you're trying to make a mark in it and to do that you have to be performing at the top of your game.
"Celtic have done great to get to the Champions League but there has to come a point when you say you can't keep learning all the time - you have to make a mark in it."
Rodgers has previously underlined that he does not want to change the style of football his team plays for big European games, despite the 5-0 loss to PSG and 3-0 setback in Germany.
Lambert believes the Northern Irishman is right to look to win games no matter the opponent, but highlighted the importance of team discipline if Celtic are to get a result.
"At any big club, the fans expect you to be on the front foot," he said.
"You have to be really concentrated and disciplined. When you defend, you have to do that really strongly as a team. You can't come out and leave gaps or you'll get hurt.
"But, by the same token, you have to get on the front foot and try to win because the fans will demand it.
"It doesn't matter who comes to Celtic Park, the fans' level of expectancy is huge."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel