Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner has predicted an ominous future for Celtic at the top level of European football.
Neil Lennon’s beleaguered Hoops exited the Champions League at just the second qualifying round on Wednesday, after going down 2-1 to Ferencvaros at home.
It was the earliest Celtic have been eliminated from Europe’s premier club competition since 2005, and many questions are now being asked of Lennon and his players.
Bonner wasn’t impressed with what he saw either, and reckons that Celtic can wave goodbye to the Champions League proper for “a while”.
He told the Glasgow Times: “Let’s face it, [Ferencvaros] were not at Cluj’s level, for me. They’ve only played two games this season, so they’re at the start of the season and Celtic should be able to deal with that.
“Celtic were at home and it’s really, really disappointing – and it’s down to those defensive frailties I talk about all the time.
“They want to be in the Champions League but the Europa League is probably the level they can operate in, to a point, and make an impact in.
“The Champions League is a step too far away from them, I think. And it’s going to be that way for a while, I think.”
Celtic have had big Euro wins in recent years
While Bonner simplifies UEFA’s two club competitions into distinct levels, the true story is a much more puzzling concept.
While Celtic have come undone in recent Champions League qualifiers to AEK Athens, Cluj and now Ferencvaros, they’ve also shown they can beat better opposition.
In that time we’ve defeated RB Lepizig (third in Bundesliga last season), Rennes (third in Ligue 1) and Lazio (fourth in Serie A).
We’ve held our own, and even excelled, against opposition from elite countries – losing just once and winning four times in six matches against those opponents.
So why do we seem to struggle so much in qualifiers? Is it the early season nature? The pressure of being favourites to progress? Or is it that we can’t handle knock-out clashes.
The Europa League collapse to Copenhagen in February would hint at the latter.
But I’d be reticent to rule Celtic out of future success in the Champions League.
In the summer of 2011 we were dumped out of the Europa League by Sion, only to be reinstated. Barely a year later and we were beating Barcelona at Celtic Park and reaching the Champions League last 16.
When Molde thumped us 3-1 in the Europa League in 2015, we didn’t think we’d be holding Manchester City to a draw less than a year later.
Things can change quickly. But for things to change, sometimes things actually need to change.
In other news, Celtic will not offer UK based non-season ticket holders the chance to watch this weekend’s clash against Motherwell
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