Mika Baur’s hopes for the future in a Celtic jersey don’t prevent him from accepting the harsh reality of the present.
When a side loses four consecutive European matches but just one nine in the league, the charge which is inevitably levelled is that it’s simply incapable of coping at a higher level.
The German would dearly love to shoot the accusation down in flames and, in the fullness of time, he intends to do just that.
For now, though, the midfielder accepts that the mounting statistics are simply too damning and too convincing to contradict.
‘We lost three games,’ Baur said after the 2-1 home defeat to Celta Vigo on Thursday.
‘What should I tell you? Maybe it’s like that at the moment. But I believe in us that we can turn it around absolutely and do better against Besiktas in two weeks.
‘I don’t believe that we are not capable but, at the moment, maybe it looks like that.’
Baur tussles with Celta captain Iago Aspas in the defeat at Parkhead on Thursday night
Any team can lose a match in Europe, but when the losses are being chalked up as routinely as Celtic right now then it becomes easy to believe that the side simply don’t have the wherewithal to make an appreciable impact any more – even in UEFA’s secondary competition.
The 2-1 loss to the Spaniards followed an increasingly familiar script. Martin O’Neill’s side were out-played in the first half yet managed to strike first in the contest just after the interval.
Once Celta deservedly levelled, though, there was only ever going to be one winner.
For Celtic supporters watching their side in Europe in these days, it felt like a rerun of a dreary old movie.
Coming after he’d netted against Ferencvaros, Baur’s opening goal proved to be scant consolation.
‘Very disappointing for this to happen for the second time,’ he reflected.
‘I think it was an open first half, it was fine. Maybe they controlled it a bit more, but everything was okay.
‘Then we had a great 15 minutes in the second half and we scored.
‘We got the control, we played really, really well with the ball.
‘But they scored and the momentum switched and we were not capable to switch it again.’
The German midfielder put the Bhoys in front with his fourth goal for the club
The position Celtic now find themselves in is nothing short of desperate. With zero point and a goal difference of minus six, only Ararat-Armenia sit beneath them in the 36-team group.
With Besiktas next up in Glasgow and further challenges to come featuring the likes of Marseille and Union SG, identifying how this side somehow conjures up 10 points in five games to yet progress is inordinately difficult.
Until the point comes when rudimentary arithmetic says it cannot be done though, hope will spring eternal.
‘What else should I think? Yeah, sure,’ insisted Baur.
‘We have five games ahead, so it’s not getting any easier because we lost again. But, yes, five games with 15 points to play for, so what else?’
More immediately, the task for O’Neill’s men is to bounce back at lunchtime.
As was the case following their loss to Benfica, another opponent from the capital lies in wait with Hibernian praying they aren’t made to suffer the way Hearts were last weekend.
The Celtic manager can only hope that his players repeat the trick of parking another tough European night to pick up another three league points.
Asked what the psychological secret was as a switch was flicked in the short turnaround after Lisbon, Baur said: ‘There is no time. Maybe that’s the good point — here’s no time. The next game is on Sunday. We can be disappointed on Thursday night, the next day we do regeneration.
‘But then, by Saturday, the focus is all on Hibs.
‘So, maybe that’s the good thing, to play every three days.’
Javi Rodriguez’s double condemned Celtic to a third straight defeat in the Europa League
Under Marink Reedijk, Hibs have started poorly with two losses extending the form slump which cost David Gray his job.
But Baur sees an inherent danger in assuming anything about a trip to face the division’s bottom club.
Asked if Celtic had to treat the fixture as if they were facing a top European side, the German replied: ‘Not treat them like a European game, but if you’re not doing it, it’s not possible to win.
‘It’s like that. It’s easy. If you’re not treating them like a real good opponent, it’s not possible to win that game.
‘European football is much more difficult, for sure.
‘But we’ve had really, really tough games in the league as well.
‘It’s not getting easier to go away and play St Mirren, St Johnstone or whoever. We should move on in the league, be confident, like we did last Sunday.
‘That was not an easy game. It maybe it looked like that, but it was well deserved.
‘But it’s very disappointing that we are not capable at the moment to perform like that in the Europa League.’
While the overall standard of Celtic’s recruitment is a contentious issue, there are no question marks over the initial £4.5m spent to bring Baur in from Paderborn in the summer.
Already with four goals to his name, half of which have come in Europe, the 22-year-old believes there’s more to come.
‘I try to do my best all the time,’ he said. ‘I try to help the team by scoring and hopefully deliver a few assists as well in the next games. But firstly, it’s Callum (McGregor’s) and my job in the midfield to control it.
‘We did a few times really well, a few times not. So, it’s on us to do that. But personally, I feel more confident for sure in the last weeks.’
