The Real Champs
Fansided

3 takeaways from Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Celtic

By Ben Sundock

Real Madrid's Croatian midfielder Luka Modric (L) celebrates after scoring his team second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group F football match between Celtic and Real Madrid, at the Celtic Park stadium, in Glasgow, on September 6, 2022. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Real Madrid's Croatian midfielder Luka Modric (L) celebrates after scoring his team second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group F football match between Celtic and Real Madrid, at the Celtic Park stadium, in Glasgow, on September 6, 2022. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
(Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images) /

2. The team handled the early pressure and environment well

Celtic Park played host to a famous Champions League upset back in the fall of 2012. Against a vaunted FC Barcelona side, Celtic somehow pulled out a 2-1 win over the Spanish giants despite seeing less than 20 percent of the ball for the match.

Glasgow has been a tough place for teams to travel in European competition and Celtic showed just why in the first half Tuesday night. The crowd was buzzing and the players fed off that energy. You could see as the chances were created that Celtic was determined to send their fans into raptures.

Thanks to a couple of great Thibaut Courtois saves and some good defensive work by David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger, Real held the early pressure at bay. It wasn’t until after Karim Benzema went off with an injury that the team started clicking.

Hazard did wonderfully dropping into the midfield to alleviate some of the defensive press from Celtic. Luka Modric, Fede Valverde, and Toni Kroos put in a shift of epic proportions as they worked in close proximity to their defensive third for several stretches of the match.

Real Madrid has won all four away matches thus far this season while scoring plenty of goals, as well. This is another encouraging sign of the quality throughout the team.

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