Celtic’s damning record since Bayern Munich defeat in February, outlined

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Last season, Celtic gave supporters real reasons to be hopeful.

It felt that this was what was promised when Brendan Rodgers made his return to Celtic Park. The team were dominant domestically and competent in Europe.

A Champions League draw which included Slovan Bratislava, Young Boys and Club Brugge represented a real opportunity for the Hoops, and in finishing 21st in the League Phase table, this was taken.

In the transfer market, the signing of Arne Engels was the club’s record signing – Adam Idah and Auston Trusty were also brought to the club for significant fees.

It culminated in a Champions League round of 16 clash against Bayern Munich, in which the Hoops were expected to take a hammering but ended up taking the tie to added time of the second leg.

There is a feeling that since then, it has all been downhill – but is this true?

Celtic’s record since Bayern, outlined

Celtic’s heart-breaking exit at the Allianz Arena came on February 18th.

At that point, the Hoops sat at 16 points clear at the top of the league table, with 22 wins from 26 games, and just one league defeat.

READ MORE: Hearts CEO gets confident with pre-Celtic comments as he makes ‘all guns blazing’ claim

In Europe, they had been unbeaten at home in the League Phase, also earning draws away against Atalanta and Dinamo Zagreb.

They had won the Premier Sports Cup, and were on the road to the Scottish Cup Final.

In the eight months since, Celtic have lost nine games and drawn seven.

These include both legs of their Champions League qualifier against Kairat, the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen, and three Glasgow Derbies.

In fact, the only ‘big game’ that Celtic have won since the Bayern tie has been the Scottish Cup Semi-Final… against relegated St Johnstone.

Given the sample size, this is damning. Away Premiership matches against Hibernian, St Johnstone and Dundee have also all ended in defeat.

It’s the kind of form that will encourage Derek McInnes and Hearts… the match at Tynecastle will be the perfect time to finally win a ‘big match’.

What have been the causes for Celtic’s lack of form?

Daizen Maeda’s revelation that he wanted to leave Celtic was indicative that he could be one of many Celtic players who are at the end of their cycle.

Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn both struggled with their form in the back end of the season before departing. Kasper Schmeichel made a costly error in the Scottish Cup final.

The elephant in the room is the summer transfer window, which has triggered a wave of Celtic fan protests.

But with the squad that Celtic have, results still should have been much better – the Honda Civic should at least still be moving.