So by now we all know that Celtic will come up against Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages of this season’s Champions League, and personally I feel like we have landed a group in which we have a more than decent chance of making the last 16.
I have bemoaned our luck in these draws over the years and when I saw the group containing Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Inter Milan yesterday evening I was convinced that is where we would end up. Thankfully we managed to avoid that one. Now I realise some fans enjoy such groups for the ‘glamour’ they provide but we have had our fill of those types of groups in previous Champions League campaigns and I personally was hoping to land a group that gave us the best possible chance of qualification.
Our group is far from the easiest one but at the same time I think we should now be at the level that second spot in Group F is firmly in our sights. I was delighted to see us land current European champions Real Madrid, I’m far from the only fan who has been hoping for decades that we would land Los Blancos in this competition, even our captain Callum McGregor was dreaming of coming up against the Spanish giants! The current holders will obviously be huge favourites to win the group and I doubt even the most diehard of Celtic, Leipzig and Shakhtar fans will think otherwise.
Our other two opponents in Group F however should be more than beatable. Leipzig finished fourth last season in the German Bundesliga behind our opponents in last season’s Europa League, Bayer Leverkusen. Although we got beaten twice by the Germans, 4-0 at Celtic Park and 3-2 at the BayArena stadium, the scorelines don’t exactly reflect how the games went. Celtic were in the early stages of trying to get to grips with Ange Postecoglou’s footballing philosophy when we met them in Glasgow and we actually played well in stages but our opponents punished every mistake at the back. In Germany we probably should have won only to concede two late goals but my point is we were a match for a German side which performed better in the Bundesliga last season than Leipzig. We are definitely a better footballing unit now, one year on.
Another thing which should give us confidence against the Germans is that an inferior Scottish team managed to put them out of Europe last season at the semi final stage of the Europa League. Surely our players will be confident of beating Leipzig knowing that theRangers were able to do it the previous season? So far this season the Red Bull sponsored club have failed to win any of their opening 3 games in the Bundesliga, currently sitting in 11th with just 2 points.
Our remaining opposition is of course Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukrainian side, like most sporting teams in the country, are in a state of turmoil due to the ongoing invasion of their country by Russia. Last season they finished top of the league in a campaign ended early due to the ongoing war in the region. They finished just ahead of Dynamo Kyiv, who failed to reach this stage after losing convincingly to Benfica in the last round. That 5-0 aggregate defeat probably reflects the detrimental impact the conflict has had on footballing sides in the country.
Shakhtar Donetsk were always synonymous with having a host of quality Brazilian imports within their ranks but the side has lost many of their foreign players since the escalation of the war in the area. Those players who remain will obviously be wanting to prove a point and give their suffering fans something to cheer about but there is no doubt that the side will be weaker than one would imagine they would have been in any normal year.
They obviously won’t be able to play their home matches at the Donbass Arena and have agreed a deal with Polish neighbours Legia Warsaw to play their home matches there. The surroundings should be familiar to this current Celtic squad having played there recently during Artur Boruc’s farewell game. Celtic of course played the Ukrainians back in 2007 under Gordon Strachan and it’s actually up there with one of my fondest memories of Celtic Park as a late Massimo Donati goal nearly blew the roof off the stadium and provided me with the perfect present on what was my 21st birthday.
All in all I think we should be more than happy with the group we have landed and I have no doubt whatsoever that Ange Postecoglou will have his sights set on reaching the last 16. The Australian knows that all eyes will be on him back in his homeland, being the first Australian coach ever to reach the group stage of this competition. He will be keen to impress.
With the talent we currently possess there is no reason why we can’t thrive in this setting and show that we are a force to be reckoned with in Europe once again.
For we only know that there’s going to be a show, And the Glasgow Celtic will be there.
Conall McGinty
If we/Ange & the players, do our homework on our opposition, we’ll see they are not infallible.
Madrid are close to being the perfect team, deadly on the counter attack, deadly in and around the box, almost solid defensively; one of their weak points if pressing them is they tend to concentrate a lot of man power on the wing being attacked, leaving gaps around the edge of their central penalty box, something i noticed in the CL final that Liverpool failed to take advantage of.
Shahktar Donetsk and RB Leipzip are both teams in disarray atm, something we need to take advantage of and work to our benefit; i can see a few goals either way in our meetings, and it may simply come down to who scores most in high scoring 90 minutes of football each game… obviously thats how football works, outscore your opponent, you win, so what i mean is that the games will be open with a lot of opportunities, goals will probably flow and we just need to make sure we take more of our chances.