All at Celtic will have to be relieved as the draw for the first round of Champions League qualifiers – which takes place on Tuesday – looks set to be relatively kind to the Hoops.
The Hoops will face one of five teams: Maltese champions Valletta, FC Sarajevo from Bosnia, Sutjeska from Montenegro, Partizani from Albania and Saburtalo from Georgia.
Missed some difficult ties
Fortunately for the Hoops, they have missed the likes of Qarabag, Linfield and Polish champions Piast Gilwice.
Avoiding the champions of Poland at this stage of the season is certainly a good thing for Neil Lennon’s side. That would have been a very difficult tie.
You would imagine that Valletta would be the one that the Hoops would most like to face. Partazni would probably be the most difficult tie.
Less than a month to go
The first leg takes place in less in three weeks time – on the 9th or 10th of July.
Therefore, the Hoops have not got much time to get up to speed ahead of the tie. It will be interesting to see if Celtic have any new players in their side ahead of the tie.
The draw for the second Champions League qualifying round takes place on Wednesday. The Hoops will be hoping that should they reach that stage, the draw is as kind as the first round draw looks to be.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
