Would Slavia Prague have seen off Celtic anyway?

Add as preferred source on Google

Some Celtic fans may have been intrigued to see the Slavia Prague result in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The Czech champions earned an impressive 1-1 draw away to Serie A leaders Inter Milan, and would have had all three had they been able to hold out for two more minutes in the San Siro.

The result was intriguing for Celtic supporters because it is Slavia who we would have played had we completed the job against Cluj. If we hadn’t have capitulated against Dan Petrescu’s men last month then we would have faced the Czech outfit for a place in the group stage of the competition.

Many Celtic fans felt the potential tie against Slavia was winnable. However, last night’s result perhaps shows that we have our work cut out to even make it through the qualifiers in future seasons.

Slavia ability highlights what Celtic are up against

Prague were Europa League quarter-finalists last season, and no mugs. Neither were AEK Athens a year earlier. The standard in side that we can face in the ‘Champions route’ has grown enormously over the past couple of years – to the extent where we’re now no longer clear favourites for some ties.

The solace for Neil Lennon’s men is that we have a Europa League group where we can compete. Slavia, meanwhile, may have the glamour of the Champions League but they’ve now got home and away matches against Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona to suffer before their return game against Inter.

Maybe the Europa League is just more of our level at this moment in time. Hopefully we can show an ability to compete in the tournament over the next three months.