Celtic right-back Hatem Abd Elhamed has demanded “big things” from the Hoops in Europe this season.
It’s fair to say that the name of Celtic has been decreasing in terms of European recognition over the last few years. Brendan Rodgers twiced managed Champions League qualification, however, only once did we manage to secure the Europa League spot from the CL groups.
In Europe’s secondary competition, Celtic have never progressed past the last-32 since it became the Europa League. We’ve fallen at that hurdle against the likes of Inter Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, and Valencia respectively.
But Elhamed isn’t interested in sob stories. Speaking in the Scottish Sun, the big Israeli wants big things from a big club in Celtic this season.
“We have to take it game by game but we want to do well in the competition. It’s a tough start away in France, against a very good team, so we need to match them physically.
“We need to be aggressive and make our mark in Europe. We are a big club so we should be aiming to do big things in Europe.
“I have played in the competition before with Hapoel Be’er Sheva and enjoyed it. There is no reason why we cannot do well in Europe and at home this season.”
Celtic’s European home form has to improve
Back in the day of qualifying for the Champions League last-16, Celtic’s home form was essential. We had several campaigns where we won all three home games but lost all of our away games. There was just something eerily supernatural about our ability to beat the best at Parkhead.
That’s gone now.
Too many average sides are rocking up at Parkhead, playing decent football and easing to victory. Over the last 12 months alone, we’ve seen Red Bull Salzburg, Valencia, and Cluj take simple victories off Celtic at Parkhead.
But the poor run stretches further than that. Borussia Monchengladbach, Anderlecht, Salzburg (again), and Molde have all come to Celtic Park and taken the spoils in recent years. And all four have won with a bit to spare.
So if Celtic are going to make any sort of waves in Europe, this is one aspect that has to get better. The days of competing with the big guns at Parkhead may be just about gone. However, there are no excuses for getting outplayed by some of the teams we face in the Europa League.
Elhamed is part of a new back-four that will be experiencing European football proper at Parkhead for the first time. He joins Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo and Christoffer Jullien in that bracket. And it’ll be down to them to cut out the sloppy defensive errors that have cost us so dearly in the past.
Will we see a big improvement in Europe defensively? We simply need it.
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