The Champions League group stage draw will take place, minus Celtic, on Thursday afternoon.
The 32 remaining teams in Europe’s premier club competition will find out their upcoming fixtures in the glam event in Monaco. And Hoops supporters may want to cover their eyes as they get a glimpse at what they could have won.
Our qualification conquerors CFR Cluj won’t be in the draw after they were calmly dispatched 2-0 on aggregate by Slavia Prague in the playoff round. The Czech side will be in the bottom pot of seeds and could face any of the leading sides in Europe.
Celtic would have had a chance in the Champions League
Our failure this year has perhaps been compounded by the fact that we would have been in the third of four pots had we made it to the group stage. Such a scenario could have seen us in with a fighting chance of getting out of the group with a Europa League drop-out place very much within our grasp.
As it is, we’ll have to settle for that tournament from the early part of the season. Should we finish the job against AIK on Thursday then we’ll have our own draw at the end of the working week.
The Europa League still houses some big names to whet the appetite too. The likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Sevilla will all be involved in the 48-team group stage while Thursday’s qualifiers could also see the likes of PSV and Frankfurt book their place.
Neil Lennon’s men will be second seeds if they make it past the Swedish champions. That’s where we were last year when we pulled out the Red Bull duo of Salzburg and Leipzig, as well as Rosenborg. A similar group wouldn’t be too disastrous this time round either.
But first things first, we’ve got to finish the job in Sweden.
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