FEW if any Hoops supporters will be seriously considering the possibility that Celtic can reach the Europa League Final in Warsaw next May. Boli Bolingoli gave his prediction at the weekend, saying he reckons we can get to the semi-final. When we posted that article on social media, one of the comments dryly noted that ‘we’ll be lucky to get out of the group stages”.
You have to admire Bolingoli’s enthusiasm, especially as he sat there and watched Celtic shoot themselves in the foot against Cluj to exit the Champions League last month on a night when we seemed to discovered a new way to make a complete balls up in European competition.
Christopher Jullien took a knock to the head at Hamilton on Saturday and now he’s busy talking complete bollocks, absolute Colin Nish. He doesn’t reckon that Celtic will go as far as the semi-final, no he thinks we can go even further, all the way to Poland!
“Yes, I believe we can, absolutely,” the £7million summer signing from Toulouse told the media yesterday as reported by Scottish Sun.
“Since I arrived here I have seen that all the players constantly have trophies on their minds.
“They want to win at everything, even in training, and this is important for our team.
“That gives us hope and we will see what happens. We will take it all game by game and see what it is, but if you were to go into the locker room right now and ask each of them what their goal was they would tell you it is to bring that trophy home. And I’m just following them!
“I think the same way as them. Everything I do is geared to winning and I hope we can go on and do something really special in this competition.
“We don’t know what will happen. It’s game by game and we’ll see. In our heads we think of trophies. This is the way we should think.”
“We’ll take it game by game and see what it is,” Jullien said.
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Celtic face French high flyers Rennes in the first Group stage match on Thursday on the first step on the road to Warsaw. And Jullien is looking forward to playing on his home soil again.
“We have to be ready for that game because it will give the tone for our European way.
“When you see the draw, every group has good teams, so it’s going to be tough and a really big challenge for us.
“I don’t know so much about Lazio. I know Serie A is tough and defensively they will be tough. They are really good there and it’s a strength. We will see. We have three teams and each one has their own strengths.”
While he doesn’t know too much about Lazio, he got the chance alongside Bolingoli to sit with the rest of us and watch the shambles against Cluj in the Champions League, so he knows what to expect from the Romanians. The side though he knows most about is the French Cup holders, Rennes, who are currently sitting in second place in Ligue 1 behind Paris Saint Germaine and ahead of Moussa Dembele’s Lyon.
Jullien highlights the man who makes Rennes tick, their midfield talisman Clement Grenier and reckons that he will not like the up close and physical challenge from the Celtic captain Scott Brown.
“The most important individual for them is Clement Grenier. He was famous when he was young.
“He is the midfielder who controls everything for them. He switches the play and has a great delivery from free-kicks.
“Behind him, the talented young players around him listen to everything he says. Grenier is a big part of their success.
“They (Grenier and Scott Brown) are totally different and that’s why I’m happy going into this tie. I know Grenier and, if he has someone like Broony breathing down his neck, he won’t be the same.
“If your press him in an aggressive way, he’s not happy. If he doesn’t have the time and space to dictate the tempo and he has someone on him then he’s not so effective. “He’s still good, but he’s not the same and I’m sure our management will have noticed that.”
“They had gone without European football there for seven years until last season, when they also won the French Cup.
“They had a really good crowd when they played Arsenal at home in the Europa League’s round of 16 in March and they beat them 3-1, although they lost 4-3 on aggregate.
“Rennes have made a really good start to the season and have even beaten Paris St Germain, which surprised a lot of people. They have a lot of very good young players, which is one of the things they are famous for.
“They have an excellent striker in Niang and some good midfield players. In fact, they are a good team. It would be a mistake for us to go there thinking otherwise. They aren’t a team you can take lightly and think everything will be okay.
“I’m sure everyone here will be focused on giving their best against them. If not, Rennes can be really dangerous. I know some of their players and I’ve played against them often.
“That strength of their team is the group and they showed it in the cup last year.
“The coach they have is really mentally strong with them. He tried to show them his way and it’s working.”
Jullien was asked about his own personal record playing against Rennes in French football.
“At their ground, not so good. One draw and two defeats and I was shown a red card in one of those defeats.
“It was a really bad refereeing decision. I had switched off, it was the 94th minute and we were losing. Their player hit me when I was trying to clear the ball and I fell to the ground.
“I was on my side and I pushed him away with my leg. I certainly didn’t expect a straight red card. At home, I had one win and two draws against them, but it would be great to have a good moment in their stadium with Celtic.
I feel as though I am due one,” he told the media, as reported by Daily Record.