Five marches into a brand new format Football Meets Data has been in overdrive projecting forward the most like Champions League outcomes for Celtic.Finishing in 20th place is the group stage prediction which will comfortably provide a place in the Round of 16 Play Offs in February which would be mission…
Most of the clubs immediately behind Celtic are in action tonight but a victory over Brugge would lift Brendan Rodgers’ side above Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan who all won last night.
The nagging suspicion in their deepest subconscious that one night somebody, somewhere is going to stick double figures past Celtic in a mortifying moment that will live on in infamy.
The registration process is unclear, clubs might submit their squads directly to UEFA or more likely through the SFA to ensure that all of the players are indeed signed and contracted. Sandy Bryson has previous.
Selling Jota and Carl Starfelt at the same time as Aaron Mooy retired has trimmed quality from the squad. Injuries to Reo Hatate, Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda has left Rodgers with just four or five reliable performers forced into carrying others that are miles short of the standard required.
With a goal difference of two for and 22 against it was quite a campaign for the club which had tooled for the campaign by signing Rabbi Matondo, Ridvan Yilmaz, Ben Davies plus other stars including John Souttar and Tom Lawrence.
More than a decade on from Tony Watt’s goal against Barcelona Celtic have notched up TWO more wins in the Champions League.
I’m sure Michael and the team will be doing everything possible to navigate the Q3 round and, if that goes well, the play-off.
With Ridvan Yilmaz injured in training it looks like Borna Barisic will have to be selected with no interest from elsewhere in the Croat who is in the final year of his contract.
Ultimately, it’s about trying to get European football after Christmas. I read somewhere about Celtic not having a knockout win for such a long time.