Celtic brushed off any worries and put five goals past Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
There were five different goalscorers at Parkhead, with Liam Scales opening the scoring for Celtic, before Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah joined the party in the second half.
Thierry Henry praised Celtic’s summer signing Engels for his ‘cool’ penalty, the 21-year-old got in enough practice when he did the same against Hearts at the weekend.
These three points were expected and the fact that Brendan Rodgers’ side did it in style makes it even better.
It’s a big deal because Celtic haven’t shown their true worth in Europe’s elite competition for far too long now, but the hope is that it will all change this season.
UEFA have revamped the Champions League format, with a new league phase, instead of group stages and two more games added.
There are some, from Manchester City star Rodri to Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who are complaining about this because it just means extra matches and more workload.
But whilst they moan, Celtic are quietly pleased because it evens it out for them, and allows them to get more points on the board, which then increases their chances of progressing.
Henry questioned that, if the Bhoys were handed tougher tests, if they would have been so happy with the draw, but you can only deal with what is in front of you.
The legendary striker touched upon how there aren’t any ‘big, big games’ for Rodgers, with the standout tie being against Borussia Dortmund in front of the famous yellow wall, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (18/09/24 at 10:30 pm).
Celtic thrash Slovan Bratislava
“It’s a clear penalty,” said Henry. “It’s Johnston that (gets fouled). Yeah, that’s a clear penalty. On Engels’ penalty kick: “Then cool as you like. Slot it in. Easy.”
“The draw is great (for Celtic). I don’t know if they would have liked the format (if the draw wasn’t favourable). Apart from having big guns at their place. Travelling, it’s always great for the fans.
“Look at who they are playing. You are playing at Dortmund, at Atalanta, you have Brugge and Leipzig at home. I am not saying Dinamo will be easy. Young Boys. But you don’t have big, big games, apart from Dortmund who went to the final.”
Borussia Dortmund v Celtic
The German club were beaten by Real Madrid in last season’s final, but they haven’t allowed that to affect them under their new manager, Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund breezed past Brugge 3-0 for their opening match – two teams Celtic will play, but first, it’s a trip to Germany.
October 1 is one Celtic fans marked down on their calendar as soon as the fixture list came out because it is going to be a mouthwatering tie and a memorable trip to one of Europe’s famous grounds.
Celtic will claim they have the best and greatest European nights, but teams who could match them are Liverpool at Anfield and Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park.
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