"Gonna take a sentimental journey. Gonna set my heart at ease. Gonna make a sentimental journey. To renew old memories..."

The dust might well have been blown off the old Doris Day 45rpm classic, but Ange Postecoglou was having none of that kind of talk as he watched his men go down to English Premier League side Everton 4-2 on penalties to lose out on Sydney Cup success.

The Celtic boss does not do sentimental journeys - or sentiment at all for that matter.

"I am not really the sentimental type," he said afterwards. "We got the job done here with Australia and it was a great night. You kind of move on from those things and always look ahead."

Another Sydney Super Cup game. Another homecoming for the 57-year-old. This one was different, though.

The Accor Stadium reeks of history. In old money, it was the Olympic Stadium which once held 110,000 spectators.

This spectacular arena was purpose-built for when the city hosted the sporting extravaganza that was the Olympic Games back in 2000. The capacity may have been reduced to some 80,000 nowadays, but it certainly hadn't lost its ability to take the breath away.

The venue now boasts the longest high-definition in-stadium video board in the world - The Great Southern Screen - a massive 120 metres long by 10 metres deep. Despite the huge screen, VAR was not in operation for a friendly match.

Australian sport is steeped in historical moments but this arena holds a special place in the former Yokohama F Marinos boss' heart.

Postecoglou was making a journey back to the scene of one of the country's greatest and most unlikely sporting triumphs.

Seven years ago, he led the national team to the Asian Cup title when they defeated South Korea 2-1 in the final. It remains their first and only tournament success to date. 

The 57-year-old made history on that memorable day for the national team and he is still doing it at club level with Celtic as he became the first Australian to take charge of a major side in European football,

A crowd of around 41,121 turned up for this one as Celtic lined up against Frank Lampard's Everton in the Hoops' last game of the Sydney Super Cup.

The so-called 'Homecoming Tour' hadn't exactly gone to plan thus far after the Parkhead side's opening game 2-1 loss to Sydney FC. 

Celtic Way:

That loss obviously irked the manager of the Scottish champions, who made seven changes to his starting line-up to face the Toffees.

After feeling that they had let themselves down on Thursday night, his charges certainly made it up for that on Sunday.

One thing remains constant, though, and that is Celtic's global and mass appeal. 

"It has been great to be back home and just brilliant to see the support we have had," the Aussie commented.

"Not me personally, but the football club and walking the streets of Sydney and just seeing Celtic shirts everywhere is just brilliant to see.

"We know the enormity of the football club but the distance doesn't diminish the passion and the supporters are just as passionate here watching the team play."

The Aussie clearly wanted to watch his team put on a show this time. And they did. Only the result was missing as they lost 4-2 on penalties after a match they completely dominated.

Giorgos Giakoumakis and Reo Hatate were the spot-kick fall guys after a 90 minutes where the Scottish champions really ought to have won the contest out of the park.

Jota hit the post and both Kyogo and Liel Abada missed sitters that, domestically, they would normally finish with ease.

Postecoglou had watched his men fail to hit the heights in the first match against Sydney FC but at least they were back in the old routine against the Toffees despite uncharacteristically not being able to find the back of the net.

As he said at full-time: "I was disappointed there weren't any goals for the fans but the performance was decent and I thought we dominated the game.

"We were just missing a goal and we missed some great chances, and their keeper pulled off some good saves.

"I think that was much more like us in terms of our general play and laying out football.

"We were just more like ourselves, we were aggressive when we needed to be and we were decent when we had the ball, and we were aggressive when we didn't have it and that was a lot better."

The Australian is always big on two things - performance and results. Normally one follows the other. He got the performance from the Hoops but not the result.

Other bosses may well have been seething, but not the ex-Socceroos coach.

He is box office and never ceases to surprise you, as well as educate you, with his post-match utterances.

It might not have been sentimental for him but in so many ways it was - for those of a Celtic persuasion anyway.


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