BOLI BOLINGOLI sampled the European atmosphere at Celtic Park for the first time against Sarajevo on Wednesday night and can expect the intensity to increase still further as Celtic moves through the qualifiers, hopefully towards the Group stages.
If that happens the nights will have drawn in and the dark autumn skies will be lit by the impressive Disco Lights show and the REAL Champions League atmosphere will be there for the Belgium to experience. It’s a mouth-watering prospect right enough for him and for us and with a manager likely to have a go this time around, we could be in for some memorable matches in Europe this season.
Eight qualifiers though is UEFA induced madness. Number 3 is just a few days away now, on Tuesday night when the Estonians minnows Nomme Kalju are the visitors to Celtic Park. Frankly if Celtic can’t get past them then we don’t deserve to be in the Champions League but neither can we take anything for granted this earlier in the season. We just have to look at that awful result for Scottish football at Kilmarnock last night.
Kilmarnock were dumped out of Europe by Welsh minnows Connah’s Quay Nomads after losing 2-0 at home in the second leg. This ranks alongside the Rangers defeat to Progres, the fifth best side in Luxembourg a few years ago as the bottom of the barrel results wise for Scottish sides in Europe.
Yet Celtic’s ongoing fate is tied in to these other Scottish clubs – what next TEN games before we can get into the Champions League?
Scottish football, ladies and gentlemen…
Absolute. Must. Watch.
Kilmarnock. Rugby Park.
????????
— Ninj. (@NinjaMan54) July 18, 2019
“For me it was a great feeling for me to play the first game at Celtic Park,” 24 year old Bolingoli said to the official Celtic site.
“The most important thing was we won this game to qualify for the next round of the Champions League.
“It was a great atmosphere for me in my first game. I felt it.
“I really loved playing my first game at Celtic Park, but I know it can be even better than tonight, so my first impression was really nice.
“Celtic has always been a winning team and, going forward, we will continue to reach the top. The most important thing is for us to reach the group stages and hopefully we can play even better when we’re there.
“We played good. We dominated in the first half and scored the first goal, which was important. In the second half we were unlucky with the goal we conceded but we kept the focus and got the second goal.
“Celtic’s tactics of playing are perfect for me because I’m an offensive type of player. They like to have the ball and, going forward, we will even better than we were tonight.
Life here is great. I’m very happy to be here. The team are amazing and they’ve welcomed me very well. I’m still adapting and hopefully I can be a good player here at Celtic.”
Here’s the first Access All Areas video from Celtic TV for the new season. Always a great watch…
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