Immediately after today’s UEFA Champions League draw, Midtjylland boss Bo Henriksen was out talking Celtic up.
Celtic were today paired with the Danish outfit in the second qualifying round of this year’s competition. The Bhoys are scheduled to play the first leg at home on July 20/21, with the second leg taking place a week later.
Celtic are in a tougher place than they have been in recent years regarding UCL qualification. This is due to the fact we’re now competing in the “League Path” as opposed to the “Champions Path”.
But Midtjylland manager Henriksen, who himself will be taking charge of his first game as the new boss, has moved to hail Celtic as one of the top teams in Europe.
As quoted by Danish outlet Bold, Henriksen said: “It is a top-class team in Europe. This can be seen in both their budget and coefficient points, but we believe in the possibility. We believe we can beat them. It will be two really cool battles of life and death, where we really have to go out and fight for it.
“Of course we have an opportunity to beat them, and we must do everything for that. They are known to always fight and work hard, but we have some of the same qualities and we can push them physically. It will no doubt be two wild matches with everything at stake.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
Midtjylland pose considerable threat; Celtic must take advantage of potential uncertainty
Midtjylland certainly have plenty of threats. They have pace down either flank in Anders Dreyer and Pinone Sisto. We took a more in-depth look at Midtjylland earlier today, and there are more than one or two handy players in their starting XI.
However, they’re also entering a new regime and full of uncertainty about what Henriksen will bring. He doesn’t arrive at our UCL rivals with much of a reputation to speak of. It’s hardly an appointment that will inject serious excitement into the Midtjylland fans.
Similar to Ange Postecoglou, he’ll need to win over the trust of his fanbase. So it’s not as if we’re going into this game against a seriously stable outfit. With the likes of Jens-Lys Cajuste reportedly attracting attention too (Foot Mercato), they have their own uncertainty to deal with.
But at the same time we can’t afford to underrate anyone. Not in European football where we’re so often bitten in the backside for our complacency. There’s no point cheering this draw as some sort of win when we were put out last season by Ferencvaros.
It’s time for Celtic to show if we truly have learned any lessons on the continent. If we’re looking to qualify for the Champions League, Midtjylland are one of the more basic sides we could be up against.
These two games will give us a key indication of how strong we’re looking for the rest of the qualification route, should we overcome our first hurdle.
In other news, there was an update today on the future of this £3m Celtic man.
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