Bodo/Glimt’s historic Champions League 5-2 aggregate win over Inter Milan has shown many Celtic supporters feeling how success can be achieved in the competition but Martin O’Neill sees it a different way.
By focusing on artificial pitches and low possession stats, O’Neill missed the point currently fuelling debates across the Celtic support about how a club with a fraction of the Parkhead club’s resources is consistently punching above its weight in Europe’s elite competition stage.
The Celtic fanbase believes the club should be competing in the Champions League, but O’Neill’s cautious comments feel like an unwanted reminder of the club’s own stagnated continental ambitions.
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O’Neill told Celtic Youtube, “I think there’s always an exception that proves the rule like anything else. Those are terrific efforts by them that they’ve shown in European football.
“They have a massive advantage first of all in home legs because they play on an artificial surface for a start, but then they travel to Inter and win the game.
“I don’t know what the stat was. I think somebody mentioned it coming off the plane but it was a very very small possession.
“So they’ve taken everything and it was fantastic.”
This is a strange and disappointing view to take considering Celtic have had some of their most famous European results with a backs to the wall performance.
And as for the pitch excuse, if professional footballers at Celtic can’t play on these surfaces and get results, then what are they doing?
Bodo/Glimt are the ‘exception to the rule’ as O’Neill plays down stunning Champions League record
Bodo/Glimt have been the talk of European football after beating Man City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan this season.
Even defeats to Monaco and Juventus were hard-fought and the Norwegian champions battled out a 2-2 against Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
However, the Celtic boss maintains that Bodo’s result against Inter was the ‘exception to the rule’ despite giving some massive European teams a bloody nose this season.
O’Neill continued, “It’s a major shock. Inter Milan were contesting the Champions League final last year.
“So this is terrific and that does give everybody a little bit of hope. Will they go on to win the competition? Well, if you get opportunities to play on an artificial surface, it does it does help.
“They will, let’s be fair about it. Those teams who play in those surfaces both domestically at home do have an advantage because they play there the whole time.
“But is that all it is? No, not at all. They have shown great heart, shown great determination, and they’ve got a couple of players who can definitely play, and it does give great hope if that’s the case.
“But again, it would be more the exception that proves the rule rather than anything else, in my view.”
Celtic’s European ambitions exposed after O’Neill’s Bodo/Glimt comments
If ever there was proof for fans that Celtic lack ambition on the European stage, these comments from O’Neill sum up the club’s seemingly defeatist attitude.
This type of attitude to Europe is not new to the Hoops support, former chairman Ian Bankier laid Celtic’s European ambitions out on a plate when he said it was difficult to compete against Europe’s top clubs.
Ross Desmond’s attack on Celtic supporters at the last AGM showed that years after those comments, that attitude still festers in the Celtic boardroom.
Celtic say Europe is a bridge too far, Bodo/Glimt replied, ‘Hold my beer’.
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