Personal connections will count for nothing once Celtic cross the line onto the turf of the Estadio da Luz tonight

Marco Silva has been speaking fondly about Celtic arriving at the Estadio da Luz tonight.

Of course he has.

Here is some of what the Benfica boss had to say, as reported by the Daily Record:

Celtic is a big team, they are capable of doing a lot of things. We’re going to face a massive club.

A club with a big tradition as well and they are used to fighting to be champion and winning games every single time.

It’s not the first time we’ve received Celtic fans at the Benfica stadium and it’s going to be a pleasure to have them there. But it’s not easy to play in our stadium and it’s going to be a tough night for Celtic.

Lovely stuff.

Now, I’m not having a go at Silva here.

He’s being polite, and he’s right to be.

But I’ve seen this film before.

Everybody likes to talk fondly of us, and then they humiliate us on the pitch

Generally, most managers speak warmly about playing Celtic.

That’s down to our past reputation in Europe.

It’s the nights at Celtic Park, the noise, the history, the support that follows the team everywhere.

All of that is real, and none of it is in doubt.

But as we know of late, everybody likes to talk fondly of us.

And then they send us home with a doing.

Silva even admitted that our start in Europe hasn’t been what we expected.

He’s not wrong about that either.

He has been kind enough to mention the pressure on our players, and to wish one of our young lads well, which is nice of him.

But NONE of it will matter once the whistle goes.

Personal connections count for nothing when you are 2-0 down inside the hour.

Celtic could be in for a torrid time of it tonight?

Whichever way you look at it, this has the makings of a long night.

Benfica were good enough to go to the San Siro and beat AC Milan 2-0.

They put six past Hearts in August without breaking sweat.

And they are playing in front of their own people.

Now, I’ll concede one thing.

Nobody knows how a game is going to go until it’s played.

Football has a habit of making idiots of those of us who think we do.

Then again, I can only judge us by what I’ve seen so far this season.

And what I’ve seen doesn’t fill me with confidence.

When your manager has as much as admitted you won’t compete at this level, it doesn’t exactly get you up for the occasion

That’s the part I can’t get past.

We have a manager who has all but told us that we’re not really going to compete in this competition.

I wrote about this back in September, after the chronic failure in Linz.

The constant dumbing down of our European ambitions was designed to make us accept that we’re just not good enough.

Domestic first, Europe second, and a shrug when anybody asks why.

It didn’t work on the support then, and it won’t work now.

But it has clearly worked on somebody.

So how exactly are the players supposed to get up for a night like this?

Do you think they don’t hear it?

Do you think Benfica don’t hear it?

Because if you tell your players the mountain is too high before they’ve started climbing, don’t be surprised when they stop at base camp.

It doesn’t exactly make you bullish, does it?

Once upon a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, we were bullish about Europe

I remember when it was different.

Teams couldn’t handle us at Celtic Park.

They were the ones who dreaded coming to our ground.

They’d look at the fixture list, see Celtic, and start thinking about damage limitation.

And when we played away, we generally gave a decent account of ourselves too.

We didn’t always win – nobody does – but we turned up.

We made people work for it.

That was the expectation, and it wasn’t arrogance, it was earned.

Now look at us.

We’ve been reduced to dreading games like tonight’s.

When instead, we should be celebrating them.

A trip to Lisbon to face one of the biggest clubs in Europe should be the highlight of the season for any Celtic supporter.

It should be the kind of night you plan your week around.

Instead, many of us are sitting here hoping it doesn’t get embarrassing.

That tells you everything you need to know about where we are.

This is what a quarter of a century of Dermot Desmond and his board has done to our club

Make no mistake, this didn’t happen by accident.

Our proud European history has been allowed to wither until it is exactly that – history.

The Celtic board and Dermot Desmond have made sure of it.

Year after year of balancing the books, selling anyone who shows a bit of promise, and telling the support to be grateful for the scraps.

Just another example of the fantastic influence the absent meddling golfer and his board have had on Celtic over the last twenty-five years plus.

And the sad thing is, they’ll sit there tonight and watch it unfold without a flicker of shame.

They’ll be fine.

It’s the support who’ll be left to pick up the pieces on the long trip home.

When Desmond does eventually go, whether through the laws of nature or as the result of a takeover, the destruction of our reputation in Europe will be his ultimate legacy.

Not the trophies.

Not the money.

The fact that a club which once made the continent’s biggest names nervous now makes them smile politely and pick up three points.

Enjoy the evening, Marco.

Cheers Dermot!

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