It was a cruel way for Celtic to bow out of the Champions League.
But, days after Bayern Munich’s aggregate win over Celtic, many can feel proud of how the team have performed on Europe’s biggest stage this season.
Let’s not kid ourselves here. Brendan Rodgers was under pressure before a ball was kicked because the Champions League was revamped.
So, the Hoops were expected to progress and, at a minimum, secure their ticket into the playoffs, and they did just that with a game to spare.
From wins against RB Leipzig at Celtic Park to a valuable clean sheet in Atalanta, all of that has proven that the team have gone up a level on a stage that has been a problem for far too long now.
Even when Celtic headed to Munich on Tuesday night, many expected the German giants to secure a comfortable win, but in the end, they were relying upon Alphonso Davies scoring a stoppage-time equaliser.
READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers made two things clear to his Celtic players after defeat to Bayern Munich
Celtic told what Dermot Desmond won’t do post-progress in the Champions League
The January transfer window was an interesting one for Celtic, in the sense that the fans felt the squad was weaker by the end of it, mainly due to the sale and lack of replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi.
Therefore, you expect the Celtic manager to be severely backed in the summer, but Paul Lambert made it clear there is ’no chance’ that all of the Champions League prize money will be spent on players by Dermot Desmond.
Celtic’s majority owner doesn’t say much, but the club have always gone down a route of buying upcoming stars and turning them into superstars, and then selling them on, cite Matt O’Riley as the most recent example.
Lambert feels that trend will continue despite the uprise in Champions League money, as he told talkSPORT.
“I had a feeling Celtic would be alright and they were so close to having a brilliant result,” said Lambert.
“You will get a pat on the back for the glorious failure and things like that. But they can really take it forward and, hopefully, really build on what has been a really good campaign for them.
On whether Brendan will be given ‘all’ the money from the UCL pot: “Not a chance,” responded Lambert. “No, not a chance.
“The downfall for Celtic is that the league in Scotland isn’t the most powerful, as everybody knows. They can only beat what is in front of them. The club do great with the finances and they have really clever guys there, so they have to live within their means.
“They can’t go and buy somebody for £50 million. They can’t. It’s impossible. You can only go within your means. You don’t want to be bankrupt or liquidation and that. You have to look after themselves.
“They do that, fight within their means and they have a really good board. They have a really good manager there. The guys seem to really good together.”
How much money did Celtic make from the 2024/25 Champions League?
Usually, Celtic are crashing out of Europe before Christmas, but now those added games have brought in more cash.
To put it simply, the Scottish champions earned £38.22m this season from the Champions League and that’s not including ticket sales and commercial income.
Ideally, the fans would prefer more ready-made players to arrive, they will get that in the form of Kieran Tierney in the summer, but will the same happen across the board?
Of course, it’s not just about the incomings, but keeping hold of your star players, such as the much-wanted Nicolas Kuhn.
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