“This can never happen to us. We need to step up now,” Arne Engels

The Celtic Star

·24. Februar 2025

“This can never happen to us. We need to step up now,” Arne Engels

Celtic midfielder Arne Engels gave his thoughts to the media after Celtic’s surprising 2-1 defeat against Hibs at Easter Road on Saturday as the Belgian Bhoy looks ahead to tomorrow night’s match against Aberdeen at Celtic Park…

Arne Engels, Hibs v Celtic. 22 February 2025.Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

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Q: What sort of reaction can we expect from Celtic on Tuesday night?

Arne Engels: “Of course, we are disappointed, especially with the first half. I think this can never happen to us. We need to step up now. We know that there are some games that you can lose, but there are so many games still to go. We are focused on the next one, which is Tuesday. We are fully focused now on that, and we go again.”

Q: There is no suggestion from anyone that there is any complacency around things like that. Is this just a sign today that you need to be on it for the rest of the season because this team has not won it [the Scottish Premiership]yet?

Arne Engels: “Yes, 100 per cent. We know that we need to be there every game, not only once. We showed it already the whole season that we are ready for it. It was a disappointing afternoon, but I think we are strong enough to keep on going and keep on winning, and that’s what we are used to doing. We are not afraid of this loss.”

Arne Engels arrives at Easter Road. Hibs v Celtic. 22 February 2025.Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: The beauty of it is that you’ve got another game on Tuesday. You can get out of your system quickly. You don’t have a week to dwell on it. I guess that’s what you guys would want, to put it right?

Arne Engels: “Yes. We are always focused on the next game. If it’s now a win, a draw or a loss, then we switch on quickly to the next one, and that’s what we are going to do now also. I think everybody is focused now on that after this one, and we will show it again.”

Q: The second-half performance was good though, wasn’t it?

Arne Engels: “Yes, that’s our normal level, I think. The first half can never happen to us. But we also need to take the positive. The second half was good. You see that we were pressing to get a goal, and we got so much energy into the second half that we had chances also. So, we need to take the positive also and just go on.”

18 02 2025, Champions League, FC Bayern Muenchen vs Celtic Glasgow, Allianz Arena Muenchen, FC Bayern cheers for the equalizer while the Celtics suffer on the ground.Photo Imago

Q: It’s interesting how you say that, isn’t it? On the outside we would probably say, well, you can excuse that first half because of what you have been through in Munich, but it sounds like you guys won’t excuse yourself ever, would it be right to say that?

Arne Engels: “No, never. We don’t have excuses. If we lose or win, we don’t have excuses. I think you saw nobody from us on the ground, and some of the Hibs players were on the ground. So, you see that we have so much energy, and we push every team to the limits. You see that we created chances, and we kept on running and doing our stuff, what we always do. That’s also what makes us really strong. It’s up to us to do this every game and keep on going until the end of the season.”