Ange Postecoglou could be about to pull off his biggest Celtic trick yet as UECL kicks off

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Everyone had a different remit for Ange Postecoglou when he arrived at Celtic in the summer.

Get closer to Rangers. Make us exciting to watch again. Rebuild the team and get rid of the deadwood. Some will even have had the title as their main focus regardless of how poor last season was.

However, the most difficult of them all was barely mentioned – improving our stature in Europe. The reason for that? It looked next to impossible when you looked at the job needing done.

Ange has, of course, already managed to complete large pieces of his Celtic jigsaw already. Nobody expected the squad rebuild to have been completed so quickly. And the speed of that process has led to a sustained title-challenge that has us firmly in the mix to be champions come May.

But, quite incredibly, Ange could also be about to pull off that incredible feat of improving our reputation on the continent. He already started well in the Europa League group stages with 2 wins over Ferencvaros and a victory over Real Betis at Celtic Park.

Running Betis and Bayer Leverkusen close away from home was also a stunning achievement for the boss. Granted, it didn’t feel like it at the time.

Ange Postecoglou already showing promising signs in Europe

However, Thursday night sees us kickstart our Europa Conference League at the last-32 stage. Bodo/Glimt will be the visitors at Celtic Park, and the Hoops are undoubtedly the favourites heading into it.

Some will be talking about a potential quadruple this season. And even though that’s a long way off, there’s reason to believe a deep run in this competition is plausible for Celtic.

Marseille, Qarabag, PAOK, Slavia Prague, Sparta Prague, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Fenerbahce, Midtjylland, Randers, Partizan Belgrade, Vitesse Arnhem, and Rapid Vienna are just some of the names still involved. If we’re fortunate enough to get drawn against a couple should we knock out Bodo/Glimt, there’s a genuine opportunity for us to be in a quarter-final or semi-final spot in the UECL.

This would go a long way to improving our reputation as a solid European outfit once more. Even more so if we were to knock out one of the big boys such as Leicester or Tottenham Hotspur. There’s a real chance for Ange to do the unthinkable and have us still competing in Europe well into the second half of the season.

Whilst the introduction of UEFA’s new third-tier competition has undoubtedly provided us with that platform and one we wouldn’t have had in previous years, Ange’s Celtic have more than earned their spot.

A strong run in this combined with the 3 wins we managed in the Europa League groups and Ange will have firmly bolstered our Euro reputation this term. Something completely unimaginable back in the summer.

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