Arne Engels

Love how he comes across, for someone so young he has an expert way of talking and dealing with the media. Not once being led my any potential headline grabbing questions.

All not is his native tongue..

 

Said it another post but it bears repeating he is remarkably mature for such a young lad.

 

The Arne Engels fan club is growing by the week but the Celtic ace revealed will also have his own supporters’ bus here in Dortmund on Tuesday night.

Borussia will have the vast majority of the 81,000 Signal Iduna Park this evening with around 3500 Hoops fans tucked in the corner. But the playmaker will have a band of diehards of his own who have made the road trip from his hometown of Opwijk in Belgium. The Engels family have got so used to watching the midfielder’s football journey across Europe they even bought a van – and a squad of them are hitting town to see their lad look to make a Champions League impression.


It will be packed with parents, aunts, uncles, the lot it and they are hoping to lap up another special night after lapping up the thunderous win against Slovan Bratislava in Glasgow a few weeks ago. Engels is looking to maintain his sensational start to life at Celts – and give the travelling band another reason to party.


The 21-year-old said: “There will be a few of my family members that are coming. It's a special feeling to have them in the stands. My parents were also there last time for the Champions League against Bratislava.


They said it was amazing. They never experienced something like that – me neither actually.

“It was really amazing to have them there and also score in front of them and perform. It's an amazing feeling to have them here

It feels always a bit different to have some family here and it's good. Yes, it might be an expensive move for them, but they are used to it!

They are coming with the van. It's going to be good for them also to have a little bit of a family trip. They bought a van to come to Germany with the family when I played there. There is a lot of them – it’s more like a bus!

“It's really nice also for them. It's like an adventure for them also to see me playing. It's a bonus but it's also for them a little family trip and a little bonus in the end.

“Everybody in my family is always supporting me. It's always nice to know that they have my back and I'm trying to do something also back for them.


Engels has hit the ground running and he admitted he’s relishing his big chance to showcase his ability in the Champions League. But he’s not here to simply soak up the experience and he said: “You always hope to achieve it, playing at this level. It's a kid's dream and now it's coming true. It's an amazing feeling also for me

“But I'm here to perform and not to live the dream. It's going to be really nice for me. You always need to have the winning mentality I think. Everybody in our squad has this and that makes us really strong actually. It's a strong opponent of course.

“Everybody knows Borussia Dortmund. They play the final so it's not something you reach of being another good team. It's going to be a tough match but we are ready for it so we will see.”


Engels is no stranger to the Signal Iduna Park. He made his Augsburg debut here in a 4-3 defeat and was also involved in a 5-1 defeat in these parts.

He must have slipped under Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin’s radar though as he admitted he didn’t know much about the Celtic ace from his time in the Bundesliga. Engels is not too fussed but he’s hoping the rival gaffer will know all about him by the full-time whistle this evening.



He said: “We will see. I don't want to say a lot about it but we will see. We just need to think about the team and how the team performs and then the rest will follow I think.

“Does it give me more motivation? Not really. It's like another game for me. I just want to perform really well at the highest level. That's a good game tomorrow and a good challenge for me also and for the team



It's always nice to come here and come back and to see where you were in one year or two years before. It's nothing different or something. It's just another game. It is amazing to be here as I played here a few times in my career with Augsburg.

I made my debut here for Augsburg after arriving from the Second Division in Belgium. Playing in front of 80,000 was a great experience and it was a crazy game as it finished 4-3 to Borussia Dortmund.

“It is an amazing stadium and the atmosphere will be electric and fantastic. I spoke to a lot of players about this atmosphere and the Yellow Wall but we also have an amazing atmosphere at Celtic Park which is kind of the same. If you can play at Celtic Park, you can play anywhere

 

Yeah he's similar to MOR in that respect

 

Aye very professional outlook, speaks well and none of the social media tomfoolery just a focus on being the best he can.