James Forrest reckons Celtic’s Europa League group will go down to the final matchday.
Neil Lennon’s men currently sit top of Group E with four points from their first two matches. A crucial double header with top seeds Lazio will likely shape their European destiny, however Forrest thinks it’s got the makings of a dramatic conclusion whatever happens.
“The Cluj result was great but we’ve we can’t afford to look ahead to anything other than the next opponent in the group,” Forrest told the official Celtic website.
“Obviously, the focus will turn to Lazio now but we haven’t been looking two or three games ahead.
“There are four really good teams in the group so we know it’s going to be tough and I think it’ll go down to the last game.”
Forrest is probably correct with his Europa League prediction
While some Celtic fans would perhaps prefer Forrest to come out and say that he hopes we can qualify before matchday six, the reality is that we will go to Cluj with our fate still to be decided.
The group is a really open one and that has been highlighted in the opening four matches. Every team has scored at least two goals and conceded no more than three. Thankfully we’re in a really promising position early on which isn’t often the case.
On so many occasions it seems like we’re playing catch up in group stage football after making a poor start. This time we have set the foundations for qualification and can now attack Lazio knowing it’s not quite winner takes all.
If we can aim to win one of our next two matches against the Italians we will be guaranteed to be in the top two going into the final couple of group fixtures. Given that they are Rennes at home and Cluj away – we would surely fancy our chances of completing the job.
It’s not going to be easy by any stretch, but we’ve given ourselves a big chance to succeed.
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