In case you didn’t know, there’s the small matter of watching Celtic in the Europa League draw ahead of you this morning.
Celtic will be in Pot 2, in a rather different Europe League this time round. With fewer teams in the competition, owing to the creation of the UEFA Conference League, it’s a leaner, meaner prospect this time round.
Who Celtic won’t face, guaranteed? Eintracht Frankfurt, Red Star Belgrade, Leicester City, Rangers, Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk and PSV Eindhoven. Some of those teams, you probably wouldn’t have minded drawing in the Group Stage.
That leaves a heck of a lot of quality spread evenly throughout the competing teams. Celtic have both defied the odds, and capitulated in Europe over years past. So, perhaps there’s folly in suggesting best and worst-case group scenarios for a team so wildly unpredictable in Europe.
On paper, though, there are some situations that would look kinder than others. After overcoming AZ Alkmaar, what would be the kindest group, and which would be the toughest?
The best-case scenario for Celtic in Europa League group stages
Braga, Celtic, Sparta Prague, Sturm Graz
Don’t get us wrong, this is still a tough group. But it wouldn’t be particularly unrealistic to suggest Celtic could negotiate it.
I’ve picked Braga over heavyweights like Napoli, Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen. It’s not that Braga are a bad team, far from it. The Portuguese side boast some fire-power with Fabio Martins and Abel Ruiz, while Al Musrati is a force in defensive midfield.
They’re also consistently excellent in the Europa League. However, I can see us finishing at least second, provided Braga do their usual in the competition.
Sparta Prague? Well, that’s about revenge. Again, it’s hardly as if they’re a bad team, but are they ‘beating us 4-1 twice’ good? It’s hard to believe that, despite it happening. Managing wins over the Czechs would represent the progress being made under Postecoglou.
Sturm Graz are getting off to a decent start in the Austrian Bundesliga, but represent a really beatable team for Celtic. With no disrespect, we should be aiming to comfortably beat teams of Sturm Graz’s stature. And, honestly, I still thought they played at the Arnold Scwhwarzenegger Stadium, but that is sadly no longer the case [Soccerex].
The worst-case scenario for Celtic in Europa League group stages
Napoli, Celtic, West Ham United, Galatasaray
In terms of glamour ties, it couldn’t really get any better than Napoli, West Ham and Galatasaray, could it?
Napoli, perennial Champions League contenders, drop into the Europa League after a creditable but probably disappointing 6th place finish last season [Sky Sports]. Boasting the talents of Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne, Hirving Lozano and plenty more, it’d be a famous win for Celtic if we could topple Diego Maradona’s old team.
West Ham United, albeit in a friendly, gave us a shellacking at home in pre-season. With Michail Antonio on dangerous form, it’d be interesting to see what we could do against them. Simultaneously, though, we’ve seen how devastating they can be. The work David Moyes is doing with them really deserves immense praise.
As for Galatasaray, they’re just a club that screams “danger”. They won the race for Sacha Boey, while Victor Nelsson and Patrick van Aanholt are other smart pick-ups for the Turkish side. Add in Falcao and Arda Turan? That could be a long couple of nights for us.
That said…
All of that said, we’ve got a manager who wants to take on the best. The Europa League can give him a solid grounding to do just that.
Really, we ought not to fear anyone. And it’s not fear, so much as who we might prefer, and who would be considerably tougher opposition. On paper, there are some very good teams in the Europa League draw, but nobody we can’t topple.
We’ve overcome the odds in the Europe, and been upset by “weaker” teams we underrated. Either way, it’s an exciting morning in the afterglow of an aggregate win over AZ Alkmaar.
An AZ Alkmaar, by the way, that would’ve been one of the better teams in this competition.
Read more: Ange Postecoglou delighted with new bit of Celtic business
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