Celtic have been drawn against Champions League holders Real Madrid for the first time in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since the quarter final draw back in 1980 when Celtic recorded a brilliant 2-0 home win only to lose 3-0 in controversial circumstances at the Bernabéu.
✨ Thoughts on Group F, Celts? @ChampionsLeague | #CelticFC⭐🍀 pic.twitter.com/kfAzQFZ0CK
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 25, 2022
Johnny Doyle scoring against Real Madrid the last time we played them in a competitive game. pic.twitter.com/Q8Tas80CDX
— JustAnOrdinaryBhoy (@ordinarybhoy) August 25, 2022
The pot two side in Celtic’s group (F) are German side RB Leipzig who Celtic have beaten in recent years in the Europa League and and the third tier side is Shakhtar Donetsk who are set to play their home games in Warsaw due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
This looks like a brilliant draw for Celtic with the three teams outside of Real Madrid – who are supplying the real glamour in Group F – all in with a shout of securing either a second place finish to progress to the knock-out rounds or third place to drop into the Europa League the other side of Christmas.
And Real Madrid is the pot one team that Celtic captain Callum McGregor has been dreaming of so it’s great that he’s got his wish. We’ll not know the fixtures until Saturday but we do know that due to the World Cup in Qatar later this year this year’s group stage matches in the Champions League will all take place between 6 September and 2 November.
Meanwhile theRangers have been drawn in Group A and will play Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli.
Here are the Tuesday and Wednesday dates:
Matchday 1: 6/7 September 2022
Matchday 2: 13/14 September 2022
Matchday 3: 4/5 October 2022
Matchday 4: 11/12 October 2022
Matchday 5: 25/26 October 2022
Matchday 6: 1/2 November 2022
Then progressing from there, and hopefully Celtic can, the knock-out stages look like this:
Round of 16: 14/15/21/22 February & 7/8/14/15 March 2023
Quarter-finals: 11/12 & 18/19 April 2023
Semi-finals: 9/10 & 16/17 May 2023
Final: 10 June 2023
COYBIG
Sneddon floats it across. Doyle , what a beautiful goal Jonny Doyle pic.twitter.com/Pqia72Zpe4
— Brian McCulley (@chancerbhoy) August 25, 2022
⭐🍀 We have been drawn in Group F of the @ChampionsLeague – Fixtures TBC #CelticFC | #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/IfDpVHtog2
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 25, 2022
Absolutely no reason why we can't qualify from that, don't care what anyone says.
It won't be easy but Leipzig & Shakhtar are very beatable.
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) August 25, 2022
What a night it will be playing Real Madrid at paradise HH
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) August 25, 2022
💫 GRUPO F 💫
🇪🇸 @realmadrid
🇩🇪 @RBLeipzig
🇺🇦 @FCShakhtar
🏴 @CelticFC #UCLdraw | @adidasfootball pic.twitter.com/90GOA0Pe1r— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) August 25, 2022
Shakhtar Donetsk will play their Group F home matches in Warsaw, Poland.
Due to the ongoing war with Russia the club will be using Legia Warsaw's Stadion Wojska Polskiego as their home ground in the competition. pic.twitter.com/zY4fPBkum9
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) August 25, 2022
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) August 25, 2022
Its a tough group, they all are, but we have to be happy with this draw.
Madrid are obviously the main attraction and will be a real test for how far along we’ve come as a team.
Leipzig & Shahktar are in the group on merit and the last thing we should do is underestimate them, but we’re a strong team too and have to think we have a chance of progression here!