GREG Taylor admitted Celtic’s stunning performance in their Champions League win over German giants RB Leipzig at Parkhead last night was the best birthday present he could have hoped for.
Taylor and his team mates were immense against the second-placed side in the Bundesliga and were deserved 3-1 winners at the end of the 90 minutes thanks to a Nicolas Kuhn double and a Reo Hatate goal.
The left-back, who turned 27 yesterday, felt it was the best the Scottish champions have played in Europe’s elite club competition when they were in possession during his time in the East End of Glasgow.
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“It was an ideal birthday present, a proper one,” he said. “We spoke about it with the manager. He wanted a combination of the Bratislava and Atalanta performances. And I think we did that.
“It’s as good as we’ve been with the ball in a Champions League game. Certainly, the way we built up play, we definitely caused them issues.
"We had maybe a 10 minute spell when we lost the goal, we were a bit edgy. You could feel the fans wee bit edgy with us. But, apart from that, the fans were unbelievable. I think the boys’ performance matched that.”
Asked if adopting a different mindset was the reason for the transformation, the defender said: “I wouldn’t say we had a different mindset tonight. We’ve always had the belief we could compete.
“It’s just once you actually have the proof of the pudding in terms of results, it really helps us a bit more. I wouldn’t say it was something I’ve ever had a block with. It’s just about getting the results with the performances.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers made just one change to the team which thrashed unbeaten Aberdeen 6-0 in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden on Saturday night – Alex Valle dropped out and Taylor came in.
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The Scotland internationalist, who was this week named in the national squad for the Nations League double header against Croatia and Poland, admitted he had been impressed with how Barcelona loanee Valle had acquitted himself while he was out and stressed that having someone challenging him for a start is healthy for him.
“Alex is good,” he said. “He’s done really well. I think everyone who came on tonight, Paulo [Bernardo], Liam [Scales], Alex did well. The whole team played their part in the game. Everyone can be really proud of their performance.
“We’ve got competition in every place and you need that. Whether it’s Adam [Idah] and Kyogo [Furuhashi], or Tony [Ralston] and Ally [Johnston] or myself and Alex, throughout the team we’ve got that.”
Taylor played with summer signing Auston Trusty inside him and thought the United States internationalist, who was preferred to Scales, more than justified his selection. “Auston’s been unbelievable,” he said. “He’s handled the game so well. He’s got real pace and power, he really adds to us.”
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