Despite Celtic coming to terms with being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League group stage, there is still plenty for them to play for in the final two matches.
Celtic are currently rooted at the bottom of Group F with one point from four matches but can still make an unlikely bounce into the UEFA Europa League knockout stages by finishing third.
The whole thing will be scuppered if we do not achieve victory at home to Shakhtar Donetsk tonight. Three points are a necessity, not just for any of this to work, but for the pride of the players and supporters in this tournament.
Beating the Ukrainians would move us on to four points, one behind Shakhtar heading into matchday six.
Given that the final placement of teams tied on points is decided on a head-to-head basis, it means that a Celtic draw away to Real Madrid and a RB Leipzig win in Warsaw would see us book European football after Christmas. This is currently the ‘easiest’ way to finish third.
To recap, we need four points from our next two matches without Shakhtar earning any more in the competition. In this scenario, both teams would finish on five total, but Celtic would have a better head-to-head record against the Ukrainians.
Obviously, this feels unlikely at the moment. But Carlo Ancelotti’s side will have nothing to play for in the final match if they take care of the Germans tonight, while Leipzig would be as motivated as ever against Shakhtar with a spot in the last 16 up for grabs.
Another scenario exists in the event of Celtic winning the last two games, with Real and Shakhtar besting Leipzig, but I think a home win and a draw in the Bernabeu is enough to dream of at the moment.
In any case, as stated, it’s all about tonight first and foremost, so let’s hope we see Celtic finally turn up in this group this evening and pick up a morale-boosting victory.
In other news, Celtic out of UEFA Youth League after disappointing home defeat to Shakhtar.
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