CELTIC keeper Craig Gordon believes that we have more than enough quality in the squad to win in Athens on Tuesday evening in the second leg of the Champions League 3rd Round of Qualifying for the so-called Champions League.
Celtic have already eliminated the Champions of Armenia and Norway from this competition and will have to dismiss the Greek Champions on Tuesday before taking on the Champions of Sweden or Hungary (the Malmo v Vidi tie is also level at 1-1 after the first leg in Sweden).
There is only one spot available in the Champions League and winning it remains the focus for Celtic, according to the veteran keeper.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us to go and put in a good performance and try to get into the next round.
“We are slightly behind in the tie, so we have to go there and be very positive, and we definitely have the players who are capable and a team that is capable of going there and winning the game.
“That’s what we need to concentrate on now. All the focus is on trying to get through the next round,” Gordon told Celtic TV.
The summer qualifiers this year have become a rather unwelcome addition to life as a Celtic player, due to UEFA reserving the vast majority of places in the Group Stages for clubs from their favourite countries – England, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia. Everyone else is also rans.
Gordon had the tough summer schedule on his mind as he reflected on the disappointing 1-0 defeat yesterday in Edinburgh.
“It’s not changed from any other season,” Gordon stated. “This is what we have to go through at this stage of the season, and we still have to win games.
“Even if we don’t win, we had the chance to get out of Tynecastle with a 0-0, take a point and move on, but we didn’t manage to do that.
“It was a fairly close game. There wasn’t a great deal of big chances. It was a scrap from start to finish and one strike ends up in the bottom corner and they get the win.
“I don’t think there was a great deal in the game. We would have looked to carry a bigger threat, but we ended up giving away a bad goal and lost the game.”