Celtic’s thrashing of Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday night delighted supporters and made waves around Europe.
The Bhoys are sitting second in the 36-team Champions League table after matchday one, behind Bayern Munich on goal difference after their 9-2 result against Dinamo Zagreb.
Added to a perfect start to the domestic season – winning six from six – Celtic are one of the hottest teams on the continent right now.
And that’s being reflected by stats company Opta, who now have Brendan Rodgers’ outfit as one of the 60 best in the entire world.
Where Celtic compare to the best teams in the world
The Opta algorithm analyses results from over 2,500,000 matches since 1990 to assign a rating from 1 to 100 for each team, comparable across leagues, countries, and continents.
Celtic have moved up five places in a week to 56th in the table with a rating of 85.4, ahead of English Premier League sides such as Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.
From Scotland, Rangers are the next closest team but sit way down in 120th.
Demonstrating the progress that Celtic have made in the last 12 months, this time last year Rodgers’ side were languishing in 95th, 39 places below their current ranking.
The manager has Celtic trending in the right direction and there’s a feeling that the team can improve even further over the coming months.
The strength of Celtic’s Champions League opponents
Celtic have seven remaining opponents in this phase of the Champions League phase and this is where they rank in Opta’s table, with their ratings in brackets.
- Borussia Dortmund – 10th (93.3)
- RB Leipzig – 13th (92.7)
- Atalanta – 14th (91.9)
- Aston Villa – 33rd (88.4)
- Club Brugge – 51st (86.0)
- Dinamo Zagreb – 75th (84.4)
- Young Boys – 165th (80.3)
The upcoming gauntlet of Dortmund, Atalanta and Leipzig are the toughest tests for Rodgers’ side but, after winning on matchday one, Celtic will still be in the hunt for progression even if all three are lost.
It’s interesting to note that Young Boys sit so low. They visit Celtic Park on 22nd January and the Bhoys will be looking at that as a key opportunity to pick up a win.
Club Brugge at home will be a competitive, but winnable fixture, while there should be no fear travelling away to Dinamo Zagreb.
Celtic will have a 69% chance of reaching the top 24 knockouts if nine points are attained but that jumps to a 99% probability with ten points.
Every point is so crucial so anything that can be nicked on the road or at home to Leipzig could have a massive say in how the tournament pants out for the Bhoys.
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