‘Don’t make me laugh’ – Jeff Stelling hits back at absurd claim about Celtic in the Champions League

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Celtic continue their excellent Champions League campaign with their second-leg playoff place tie against Bayern Munich tonight.

Brendan Rodgers will be hoping to get a positive result in Germany after Celtic lost the first leg to Bayern Munich 2-1 last week at Celtic Park.

Celtic beat the likes of RB Leipzig, Young Boys, Slovan Bratislava and drew with Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb and Club Brugge to get out of the Champions League groups stage for the first time since 2013.

So when Jeff Stelling heard a claim about Celtic’s group, the legendary football pundit hit back immediately.

• READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers ends striker debate as Celtic boss makes Bayern Munich call, Champions League predicted XI

Jeff Stelling rejects absurd claim that Celtic had an ‘easy’ Champions League group

Stelling was sent a text by a listener on talkSPORT claiming that Celtic had an ‘easy’ Champions League group and ‘scraped through’ against Young Boys, even though the Parkhead club had already qualified before facing the Swiss champions.

The listener also went on to say that Bayern Munich took their foot off the gas at Parkhead and it was at that moment Stelling defended Celtic.

Stelling said on talkSPORT, “Oh, that’s right. A really easy group involving Aston Villa, Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Leipzig, Atalanta, and even Club Brugge.

“Don’t make me laugh, it wasn’t an easy group and they deserve to be where they are.

“You might be right when he goes on to say that Bayern will dismantle Celtic tonight, but we shall see.”

The facts surrounding Celtic’s Champions League group opponents clamps ‘easy group’ claim

Every team Celtic faced in the Champions League group stages deserved to be there as one of the best teams in the tournament.

So to put the ‘easy group’ claim to bed, here is how every one of Celtic’s opponents qualified for the elite group stage tournament.

• Atalanta – Winners of the 2024 Europa League and finished 4th in Serie A. Coppa Italia runners-up.
• Borussia Dortmund – 2024 Champions League finalists. Finished 5th in the Bundesliga and topped their 2023 Champions League group which had AC Milan, PSG and Newcastle.
• RB Leipzig – Finished 4th in Bundesliga. Winners of DFL Supercup beating Bayern Munich 3-0 in the final. Reached the Champions League last 16 in 2023/24.

• Club Brugge – Winners of the Belgian league. Europa Conference League semi-finalists 2024.
• Aston Villa – Finished 4th in the English Premier League and were Europa Conference League semi-finalists 2024.
• Young Boys – Swiss champions, reached the Champions League group stages and the knock-out stage of the Europa League.
• Slovan Bratislava – Slovakian champions and reached the knockout playoff stages of the Europa Conference League.