Lazio victory proves how valuable the Europa League is to Celtic

Add as preferred source on Google

When Celtic blundered out of the Champions League to Cluj in mid-August there was a real feeling amongst the support that the Europa League simply didn’t matter.

There was a Champions League or nothing feeling about the place, amongst other things, as fans pondered the positives of losing our playoff tie to AIK.

“Ah, we’ll be able to focus entirely on the league,” said some. “Europe is just an obstacle in the way of nine-in-a-row,” said others. Thursday night’s dramatic victory over Lazio just shows that the Europa League still holds a bit affection for Celtic. It is arguably now our new Champions League.

Of course we want to test ourselves against the Barcelona’s and PSG’s of this world. There’s not much better than seeing Lionel Messi or Neymar ply their trade at Celtic Park. But those meetings often turn a bit gory – under Brendan Rodgers at least. The Europa League gives us a certain level of glamour and a genuine chance to compete.

Celtic can make a real impact in the Europa League

Can you imagine how less exciting our season would have been if Neil Lennon and his players had taken the stance of some fans. We wouldn’t have had last night, nor the win over Cluj on matchday two. Celtic Park would have been a far duller place.

Thankfully the players realised how important some sort of European competition is for the club. It’s probably one of the main reasons why a lot of them joined after all. The stories of Celtic Park rocking on a European night would have been just that, stories, until last night.

We now have a terrific chance to top an impressive looking Europa League group. We have a team that is perhaps only going to get better, too. Lennon’s men look formidable at home, both in defence and attack, while their performances on the road look far better than previous sides.

Celtic have made it to the last 32 of the Europa League in each of the past two seasons. If we make it a hat-trick this year then you could argue that we’re in a better place than ever to make an impact.