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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Copeland

Ange Postecoglou Celtic press conference in full as boss willing to gamble on 'painful lesson' against Bayer Leverkusen

Ange Postecoglou insists his Celtic side won't be changing their game-plan to face Bayer Leverkusen.

Because he thinks they'll learn nothing by going to Germany and shying away from the challenge.

Postecoglou 's team are known for their attacking prowess but a 4-0 defeat in the first game with Leverkusen laid bare their defensive deficiencies.

Fans want to see the team tighten up for what could be Postecoglou's toughest fixture so far in Germany.

But Postecoglou, who confirmed that Tom Rogic and Carl Starfelt will miss out again through injury, insists his side won't change their tactics and will go toe to toe with the Bundesliga side.

He said: "In a way because of the consequences, it is (the hardest game so far).

"I don't think Betis away or even Ferencvaros away were lesser challenges.

"But at both of those times there were other outcomes we were looking at.

"The level of the opposition, the consequences of the result, being away from home, it's going to be a good challenge.

"For us we want to go there and not miss the opportunity to measure ourselves. We want to be playing at this level consistently, qualifying for these tournaments and the knockout stages, and we want to measure ourselves against the best.

"We'll only learn from the game if we play our football. You'll learn absolutely nothing if you go out there and shy away from it.

"We can go and be conservative, try and hold on, try and survive, but if we do that we'll learn nothing. All you learn is that you're inferior and you don't believe you can be any better.

"The only way we'll learn anything in this game is if we go out there and take the game to them. That may be a painful lesson for us all but ultimately it's a better way for us to find out.

"It may not be a painful lesson, it may show that we're making a hell of a lot of progress. I'd rather go there and find out about ourselves than just go there and try to survive."

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