Celtic have been drawn against Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid and Lazio in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after a ceremony in Monaco this evening.
The Bhoys are hoping for an improvement on last season’s disappointing campaign in the tournament, but it certainly won’t come easy for Brendan Rodgers and his squad.
The Scottish champions were always going to have a difficult draw having entered the draw as a pot four team, the lowest category. However, given some of the other horror groups out there, going into Group E against this trio is a decent result.
Feyenoord of Rotterdam were the Pot One team in the group having won last season’s Eredivisie. It’ll be one for the history buffs given the fixtures are rematches of of the 1970 European Cup Final.
Atletico entered the competition from Pot 2 as the third-placed team in La Liga last season. They’ll fancy their chances of progression into the knockout rounds and might even be aiming for an outright group win.
Lazio pose a stiff test from Pot 3 as runners-up of last year’s Serie A, albeit quite a distance behind champions Napoli. Celtic, of course, have a strong recent history against the Italians, beating them home and away back in the 2019/20 season.
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All in all it’s a very tasty set of fixtures. While obviously a really difficult challenge for the Bhoys, avoiding the super-rich teams such as Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain must be seen as a bonus.
A top-two finish would see Celtic head into the last 16 of the tournament while a third-placed finish would result in parachuting to the Europa League knockout rounds.
The exact sequence of the fixtures is yet to be decided but Matchday 1 kicks off on the 19th or 20th September with the following games on 3rd/4th October, 24th/25th October, 7th/8th November, 28th/29th November before a final match on 12th or 13th December. A huge Autumn and Winter is ahead for the Bhoys.
67 Hail Hail will have full reaction to the draw and all the rest of the club’s news on our YouTube channel at 18:30.
In other news, Andy Robertson ‘little bit jealous’ of Liverpool to Celtic move as Virgil van Dijk helps sell summer transfer.