Celtic’s Champions League group stage opponents Feyenoord showed their class in the Eredivisie today. The Rotterdam side hammered fellow Dutch club Heerenveen 6-1 as they warmed up for the arrival of the Scottish champs and last year’s Treble winners too on Tuesday and look as if they mean business.
It’s a stark reminder of the kind of quality we will be up against this week as it will be a significant departure from what we used to in our own footballing world here in Scotland. When the draw was made mostly everyone felt that Celtic had landed a real coup getting the Dutch champions from Pot 1 instead of the usual suspects.
If we’re being honest it still is considering the alternatives we could have gotten. However, results and performances from the Rotterdam side like today’s serve to remind everyone involved at Celtic Park the levels that we have to rise to and compete with it we harbour any real ambitions of doing better in Euroepan football.
One of the plus points is that the De Kuip club will be without the red-hot Santiago Gimenez for the visit of Brendan Rodgers and his team. The Mexican striker has scored six goals in his last four outings for Arne Slot’s team, as well as notching an assist and winning a penalty along the way too. A goal and an assist came this afternoon in their 6-1 rout of Heerenveen and we could have been in a spot of bother on Tuesday night if he’d been available with our new-look defence.
Santiago Giménez – last four Eredivisie games:
vs Sparta ⚽️
vs Almere City ⚽️⚽️🥅
vs Utrecht ⚽️⚽️
vs Heerenveen ⚽️🅰️4 games, 6 goals, 1 assist & 1 penalty won. Santigol. 🇲🇽🔥 pic.twitter.com/TXgpfk9xsj
— Football Talent Scout – Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) September 16, 2023
¡GOL DE SANTIAGO GIMÉNEZ 🇲🇽(2001)!
¡SANTIGOL!
¡EL BEBOTE!
¡QUÉ JUGADA DO QUILINDSCHY HARTMAN 🇳🇱🇨🇼(2001)!
📽️ @DutchLeaguespic.twitter.com/kE30o6P4oh— Football Report (@FootballReprt) September 16, 2023
It’s a slight relief!
Paul Gillespie
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