THE louder the Yellow Wall is next week, the more inspired Arne Engels will be to help Celtic reduce it to rubble.
Belgian ace Engels knows all about Borussia Dortmund’s awesome supporters’ ‘Sudtribune’ at Signal Iduna Park from his time playing in Germany.
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It’s the huge South Stand which will have 20,000 fans packed in to scream their heroes to a Champions League victory on Tuesday night.
It’s also the venue where Engels made his pro debut for Augsburg in a Bundesliga game in January 2023 at the age of only 19.
He played the full match and shone in a 4-3 defeat, managing an assist in a seesaw epic.
He also made a sub appearance there last season in a 5-1 hammering.
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Far from being intimidated by it, Engels, now 21, LOVES the noise generated by one of the most famous ultras sections in football.
“Just as he does now at Parkhead.
He said: “I made my debut there. It was directly in front of 80,000 people.
“It was crazy, but it did bring the best out of me.”
Jurgen Klopp, Borussia’s legendary former boss, once said of the Yellow Wall: “To exit the dark tunnel and come out into the stadium is to be reborn.
“You come out and the stadium explodes — out of the darkness and into the light.
“You look to your left and it looks like there are 150,000 people standing there, going crazy.”
Ex-No 1 Roman Weidenfeller added of the South Stand: “If you are the enemy, it crushes you.
“But if you have her at your back as a goalkeeper, it’s a fantastic feeling.”
Unsurprisingly, Engels still gets a tingle when he recalls his baptism of fire in Dortmund, when Jude Bellingham opened the scoring for Borussia.
He added: “It was a 4-3 defeat that day in Dortmund. It was a crazy game. Every time 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3. It was amazing to play in.
“I was 19. I grabbed an assist, so it was a perfect night for me.
“Augsburg were already a long time in the Bundesliga. They were in the middle table, or a bit below.
“So it’s obvious that Dortmund was expected to win easily, but it wasn’t like that. It was a good game.”
Engels has hit the ground running since his £11million record arrival from Augsburg this summer.
Hoops supporters have quickly taken him to their hearts.
But the feeling is mutual — and Engels is bouncing off the intense, ear-splitting atmosphere they create for home matches.
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Asked to compare a fever-pitch Parkhead with Signal Iduna Park, Engels said: “Here it’s also intimidating. It’s the same noise, even louder sometimes.
“So it’s nice to play here, when you have the fans with you and not against you.
“That’s also a different feeling and a really nice feeling.
“It’s going to be really good and helpful for me.”
Engels, who made his debut for the Belgium national team earlier this month as a second-half sub against Israel, already looks the real deal.
A Celtic debut off the bench in the rousing 3-0 win over Rangers was followed by superb goalscoring displays against Hearts and Slovan Bratislava.
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Having been rested for Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Falkirk, he had an influential sub role in Celts’ comeback from trailing 2-1 at half-time.
And he’s far from daunted about the next big challenges ahead for him in the Champions League — against Dortmund, Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa.
Brugge is where it all started for Engels as part of their academy in 2014.
In the aftermath of the crushing win over Slovan Bratislava, he insisted he’s got a ‘cool’ frame of mind to deal with the pressure.
Engels also stated on the day of his unveiling that his massive transfer fee was motivation for him — not a stress.
His experiences of playing Borussia and RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga can also benefit his team-mates.
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Of the challenge of Europe, Engels said: “Hopefully I can help.
“There are also a lot of Belgian guys that are playing in all the clubs that we are playing against.
“It will be nice to see them again. It will also be nice to play against my old team and see everybody.
“We’ll see how it goes. It’s going to be a hard challenge. It’s like every game in the Champions League, it’s at the highest level. They’re all good teams, but we are also a good team.
“So I don’t think we need to be scared of anybody. We just need to play our own game and see how it goes.”
The two-footed Engels’ ability has been there for all to see in his first few eye-catching weeks as a Celt.
He’s an elegant midfielder, coasting from defence to attack.
Engels is also just as fluent when it comes to languages.
He revealed: “I can speak Dutch, French, English and also a bit of German.
“But German is more understanding than really speaking.”
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Asked how he’s dealing with the Scottish accents within a multicultural squad, he smiled and said: “It’s quite OK, actually.
“Sometimes it’s a bit difficult, but I will get used to it I think.”
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