Celtic’s Europa League opposition has certainly been tough this season, but over the last 24 hours, they’ve just gotten a lot tougher.
The Hoops have powered to success in Group E this season. 13 points out of five games reads incredibly well for Neil Lennon’s Bhoys. It’s our best ever performance in a group stage as we threaten to become serious contenders this season.
Fans will already be looking forward to the last-32, with the chances of us getting a good draw higher after we confirmed our place as group winners two weeks ago.
But as for going all the way in the competition? It’s fair to say that last night’s events just made that a whole lot harder.
Ajax, Benfica, RB Salzburg, and Inter Milan all dropped into our competition after finishing third in their Champions League groups. In a pretty scary stat, we haven’t won any of our last 10 fixtures against any of these sides in Europe, despite playing three of them over the last five years.
The quality of opposition is getting higher
The last time Celtic recorded a win against any of the quartet listed above was back in 2013 when we overcame Ajax 2-1 at Parkhead. It’s fair to say they’ve gotten much stronger since then.
Tonight, we’ll find out who’s going to join them from the CL. As things stand, Club Brugge, Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb, and Bayer Leverkusen are all best placed to drop-down. The latter pair will still hope to reach the CL last-16 of course. Galatasaray, Atalanta, and Olympiakos all have realistic chances of nipping into the Europa League too.
But who could we get in the last-32? Well, according to UEFA rules, the 12 EL group winners and four best third-placed CL teams will be drawn against the EL runners-up and the rest of the third-placed teams (UEFA, page 23).
Two teams they won’t face are Ajax and RB Salzburg respectively. Ajax finished with 10 points, which guarantees them a spot in the best-placed sides.
Salzburg, meanwhile, have a better goal-difference than Inter and Benfica respectively. Considering the current third-placed teams in Group A and B also can’t catch them tonight, they’ll also finish as one of the top four. Benfica and Inter can only sneak into that bracket if results go their way tonight, with Inter ahead of the Portuguese side on goal difference.
So it’s worth keeping an eye on tonight’s Champions League action to see who we could potentially get. We know we’re going to have to face top-quality sides the further we go in the competition. However, for the last-32, it would be nice to have a tie where we’re considered the favourites.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
