Of the 20 matches in UEFA competition this week across the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League, Celtic Park hosted the second biggest crowd attendance.
A healthy 54,926 fans visited Paradise to see Ange Postecoglou’s team take on Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt.
Only Barcelona’s match at home to Napoli in the Europa League attracted more, with 73,525 turning out.
Covid restrictions were in place for two or three of the games, but regardless, the numbers that turned out for Celtic last night were impressive.
The Conference League has been criticised plenty this season. There’s no hiding the fact it is literally third-tier.
But that didn’t stop Celtic fans from packing into Paradise and it shows how much European football means to us. That’s what we want to be our measuring stick long-term, it’s what we pine for.
Celtic have the potential to be one of the most vibrant and exciting clubs in UEFA competition. We just need the team to match the passion of supporters.
We have the resources too. That’s what is is frustrating. Obviously reaching the latter stages of the Champions League seems beyond us financially at this point, but healthy runs in the Europa and Conference League shouldn’t be seen as impossible.
There’s too much potential in this club to simply settle for domestic dominance, seeing Europe as an exotic distraction. European football should be a cornerstone of our season, as it used to be in the not too distant past.
This is the bar that Postecoglou must eventually hit. He admits that himself of course. He has spoken candidly about wanting to create a team that is spoken about across the continent.
It doesn’t look like any of that will happen this season but over the next few years, this is the challenge that Celtic as a club must live up to – from board to manager to players. The supporters will demand it and rightly so.
In other news, Chris Sutton’s reaction to a disappointing night for Celtic is the most accurate.
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