Benfica have completed the list of 24 teams Celtic can potentially draw in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League on Thursday.
The Portuguese side had been the highest seeded team left in qualifying, meaning if they overcame Dynamo Kyiv they would join all of the other confirmed entrants in the first three pots.
They’ve just beaten the Ukrainians 5-0 on aggregate, taking a place in pot three and rounding out the list of dangerous potential opponents on their way to Glasgow over the next few months.
Celtic facing tough Champions League Draw
Pot one is guaranteed to contain Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Ajax.
Pot two, meanwhile, is made up of Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig and Tottenham Hotspur.
Finally, pot three consists of Borussia Dortmund, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Napoli, Sporting CP, Benfica and Bayer Leverkusen.
Pot four is still taking shape, but that’s irrelevant to us in terms of the draw we are confirmed to be in the last grouping.
Clearly, there are no easy draws here. Celtic will be doing well to finish third in any of these groups, never mind the second-place needed to make it into the last 16 of the tournament.
Regardless, there is real excitement about who we’ll get in Thursday’s draw, which will be live on BT Sport from 4pm.
Callum McGregor fancies holders Real Madrid, as do some of his other teammates, while Ange Postecoglou insisted he is relishing facing any of the teams.
Celtic will be running towards this challenge with a point to prove, and who knows what can be achieved under the lights at Paradise? Never count us out.
In other news, Celtic set for busy end to transfer window as final stage begins.
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