Gary Lineker reacts to ‘exciting’ Celtic and shares how far he thinks they can go in Champions League

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Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have both given their verdicts on Celtic’s enthralling Champions League thrashing of Slovan Bratislava.

And the former England striker and renowned BBC presenter shared if he thinks Celtic are good enough to reach at least the knockout play-off stage.

The Hoops put on a show of dazzling entertainment on Wednesday night under the lights at Parkhead as five different Celtic scorers obliterated the Slovakian champions.

Celtic sit second in the Champions League league phase after matchday one and a whole host of pundits have been singing the praises of the Scottish Premiership champions in the aftermath.

Richards had already hailed Celtic striker Kyogo after the thumping win but now, his The Rest is Football podcast co-host Gary Lineker has chimed in.

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Lineker on ‘brilliant’ Celtic win

Speaking on the podcast’s latest Champions League review episode, Lineker said: “Talking of exciting football and brilliant stuff, what about Celtic banging in five?

“Now you would say they’re going to play against teams they can beat and I would say probably one of the favourites to reach the (knockout) play-offs this year.

“I’ll remind everyone again because the teams between 8th and 24th will play in the play-off games to join the top eight in the Champions League last 16.

“So it will be interesting to see. I think with this format, let’s wait and see and see how it pans out. The only downside to that is that there’s even more football for the players.

“But a brilliant win for Celtic and a fantastic start for them.”

Micah Richards agrees with Lineker on Celtic

Micah Richards began his own analysis by discussing how Celtic would generally struggle in the Champions League group stage in the past.

The former Manchester City defender said: “You know what, everyone talks about this new Champions League format and no disrespect to Celtic, in previous years and recent history, they might have had an opportunity to win a game maybe in one of the later (group stage) rounds.

“It might not have been one of the greatest games, it was sort of like for pride. Can we finish third and get into the Europa League?”

But Richards then agreed with Lineker’s point that the new format will make things easier for Celtic to progress further in the competition.