Hesselink backs Celtic to get third place

Former Celtic star striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink believes Celtic can recover from Tuesday’s defeat to Barcelona and finish third in their group.

Two heavyweight sides in Barcelona and Manchester City will likely occupy the qualifying spots to the last-16 of the competition in Group C, leaving Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic side with the difficult task of beating Borussia Monchengladbach to third place.

Qualification to the last-32 of the Europa League would very much be considered a success given the quality within the Hoops’ group.

As quoted by the BBC, the former Hoops hitman said:

Sometimes you just put your hands up and say they were the much better team, learn from it and move on.

Messi, Neymar, Suarez just turned their engines on.

The Bundesliga is really strong, but [Celtic] can still get third. It’s going to be a big test. It’s a really good team, a Bundesliga team, I watched them play earlier this year. They need to be a little bit lucky, focused, but the two big teams are already there.

I saw the group when the draw was made and it has two things: greatness, because you play such great teams, but in a sporting way you now you’re going to be competing and hopefully you’re going to be coming third.

Then you need to produce, especially in the home games, because anything can happen in home games. Celtic have shown that in the past.

The 37-year-old spent three years at Celtic and scored the opening goal in the first leg clash with Barcelona in the last-16 back in 2008.

Having been on the losing end before in Champions League games, Hesselink has some stern advice for Rodgers and Celtic ahead of their trip to Inverness this Sunday.

The next game is when you can show again that you’re capable of winning the league. You can turn things around really quickly.

Make sure you win the game, not even playing football in a good way, just make sure you win the game, so no-one can hold that against you. They can do that. It will be okay.

Celtic will face the Highland side for the first time this season with the chance to extend their lead at the top of the table if Hearts slip up against St Johnstone.