Last time out in the Champions League

Let’s take a look at how the Bhoys fared in last years’ Champions League, in probably one of the most controversial campaigns the club has encountered for quite some time.

Round two

Celtic began their European campaign drawing KR Reykjavik and didn’t get off to the best start, a late goal from Callum McGregor secured the victory in the first-leg, not the most convincing game of football you’ll see from the team, but it was enough. The confidence seemed to grow in the team as the second fixture led to a 4-0 Celtic win, with two goals from Van Dijk and another two from Teemu Pukki, with Celtic’s class being too much for the Icelandic side.

Round three

Now we move onto the third qualifying round where Celtic drew Legia Warsaw, a Polish side, known throughout Europe for their fiery set of fans, often producing amazing displays. In the first leg, Warsaw played Celtic off the pitch, a red card for Ambrose certainly didn’t help matters. The final score was 4-1 to Warsaw, who also missed two penalties, so it could have been a lot worse. I remember feeling very deflated after this game, I always have a voice in the back of my head asking me “Could we finally have a good run in the Champions League again?” This fixture answered my question, and it wasn’t the answer I was looking for. When the second leg came around I had already lost hope, all of our attacks just didn’t seem to materialise while Żyro completed a cool clean finish to beat Forster and Kucharczyk finished off a lovely bit of football to put the Polish side up 2-0 in the second league.

Now to the controversy, Legia Warsaw had fielded an eligible player for the second leg which meant that the match was awarded to Celtic as a 3-0 win (instead of the previous 2-0 result). This put Celtic through to the next stage of the competition asthe result was 4-4 with Celtic going through on the away goal rule. Warsaw fans took to the internet crying foul, perhaps looking for some sympathy for the way in which they were knocked out, I did offer some sympathy…at first. As the cries of foul play continued for days upon days, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to unleash my rage upon these supporters thinking the UEFA rules didn’t apply to them. The thing that annoyed me was that Celtic were being blamed for the inept organisation of Legia Warsaw’s staff, as they were the ones who committed this error. The whole palaver continued for quite a while, with many Warsaw fans even demanding a rematch… “erm no thanks, I’ll take going through on a technicality,” I thought to myself. However, there was a lesson to learn in all of this, and that is the standard of the team in that year was nowhere near good enough to beat Legia Warsaw, which didn’t pose a good sign for the rest of the competition. Any Celtic fans should perhaps avoid bringing their Celtic tops to Poland, I think they are still a bit sore about the whole thing…

Play-offs

Celtic drew Maribor in the play-offs, the tie was actually quite close over the two legs, but Maribor eventually went through via a 2-1 win in both games. Overall it was a very disappointing campaign, as Deila came under scrutiny very early on in his career at Celtic. The team that took to the field lacked an identity or any leadership, like a flock of sheep without a shepherd they looked nervous and tentative as if they had never played together. This year I would aim to make it to the group stage, after all, we are only two games away. I’d like to see some fire in the team to at least make it difficult for opponents and make them earn a victory over Celtic. With some nice football along the way, which we are more than capable of, we can be hopeful, but also realistic about our prospects.