Ange Postecoglou believes Celtic’s 3-3 friendly draw with Rapid Vienna was “exactly” what his players needed as they gear up for the new campaign.
In their second pre-season outing in Austria, the Scottish champions led three times at the Allianz Stadion in Vienna before being pegged back.
Midfielder Matt O’Riley opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a strike from the edge of the box but Bernhard Zimmermann capitalised on some Celtic slackness to tap in the equaliser.
Postecoglou made 10 changes at the break and midfielder David Turnbull scored from a Kyogo Furuhashi cross in the 56th minute to restore Celtic’s lead but Rene Kriwak soon had the scores level again.
Turnbull set up Furuhashi to slot in a third in the 56th minute but just as it looked as if Celtic would emerge with the win, Emanuel Aiwu headed in from a corner with the last touch of the game.
Hoops boss Postecoglou, however, was happy with the work out and told CelticTV: “It was a good game. I thought it didn’t feel like a friendly game, both teams were sort of going at it.
“It was exactly what you need because sometimes friendly games can be a bit passive but I thought both halves, both teams were going at it and it was a good contest.
“It felt like a real game and whenever you play away from home, particularly in Europe, it is always a bit of a challenge so it was a great exercise for us.
“Overall the key things for me was it was a good contest.
“There was some positive moments and some areas to improve.
“Again you only find that out if it is a good game and for us, the main thing is we have stuff we can take out of that game and work on and give feedback back to the boys, both positive and stuff we need to reinforce to improve.
“Sometimes these friendly games can be a bit meaningless, today was a good one.”
