Celtic in the UEFA Champions League 2024-25

I’d love it if we could go toe-to-toe with sides like Dortmund in an exciting swashbuckling manner and win 3-2/4-3, but it’s just not realistic

I’m hardly a fan of sitting back and trying to catch the other side out, but away from home in Europe against the top sides I think that’s the best way to go about it (top draw original punditry on my part I’m sure we’ll all agree!)

It’s admirable to have a go, but I’d rather get results

 

Atalanta are giving Shakhtar a worse doing than Dortmund did us.

Be fun and games there as well, they're just walking past Shakhtar, only 3-0 but it could have been 8 already, Shakhtar look like Dundee Utd's reserves to be fair.

 

I cant even remember the last time we played EL football. Probably had a crap team back then. Lennon era?

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Not that this is about them in any shape of form but i don’t agree with that. On their route to their final they beat some pretty decent teams and you won’t convince me that Leipzig wouldn’t of liked to of got to the final that year.

 

Ange 1st season

 

Didn’t we play Prague in the EL knockouts about 5-6 years ago?

 

Ange's first season (21/22). We were unlucky and should have qualified, but our naivety shone through during crucial moments. Went out on 9 points.

We were leading 2-1 away at Leverkusen with 10 minutes left, only to concede 2 quick fire goals. We win that game and we're in the Last 32.

We were leading 2-1 away at Real Betis, but went on to lose the game 4-3.

 

Watching it since second half. * * man..

Gonna be brutal..

 

The only thing is Shakhtar don't even look close to fit, theres no pace or mobility about them at all. Have just really sat in and plodded about, Atalanta have looked like men against boys yet it doesn't even look like they've had to lift a finger just being allowed to walk and jog about and pass it through.

Atalanta playing as if they feel sorry for them and don't want to do too much damage lol

Might be the mostly empty stadium and flat atmosphere though but the lack of pace or tempo has been like the dying minutes of a pre-season friendly the whole game.

 

If only

 

a certain Glasgow team won in Dortmund 2 years ago and got to a European final
It's not impossible to at least compete and then on a good night, it might just fall for you.
But if you go with suicidal tactics like we did, then yes - you have zero chance.of winning and a high chance of a skelping

 

Aye, it’s only 3-0. Shakhtar’s offered * all, no shots on target or anything. We got a bigger lesson though.

 

Aye, been watching it.. Atlanta swarmed them at the start with a very effective press.. and quite clinical too..

I fear the worst.

 

I like our honesty. We have to be honest with ourselves if we want to improve. Its a mature way in life whatever bad happens can be turned positive with the right attitude.

 

They’re physical, fit, quick and good on the ball with a high quality of play. And they can * defend. Look at what they done to Bayer Leverkusen last year in the Europa final. They scare me.

Only good if that honesty leads to adaption.

 

I think it's becoming increasing more obvious that Scottish football is drifting away from competing in Europe.

The huns are quite content with the Europa League and we'd probably fair better there as Slovan are a Europa League team that got lucky in qualifying for the Champions League this season. But even with their Europa League successes they were * mullered and are the worst team to ever play in the Champions League group stage. If the huns were playing Dortmund last night, it would've been way worse. We beat the huns comfortably. There is no evidence to suggest that Dortmund wouldn't have hit the huns for less than ten.

Hearts couldn't get into the Europa League and will probably get destroyed in the conference. St Mirren and Killie were both knocked out the Conference qualifiers.

We're not exactly a nation that is consistently doing anything in Europe. You may point to the huns getting into the Europa League final. They did well but it only happens once in over a decade.

Yes, we should do better. Yes, we shouldn't be taking an absolute battering like we do every year. But we're not going to win against the top dogs anytime soon imo. The best we can do is limit the scoreline.

It's sad but it's the new landscape we and other Scottish clubs find ourselves in. We do need to wise up though and just become difficult to beat.

It's hard to practice that as we completely dominate the domestic scene where no one can lay a glove on us. Teams do get the odd result against us and that's what we should be striving for against pot 1 and (definitely) pot 2 teams. Being so dominant in Scotland isn't helping us on Europe. It's doing the opposite. It's not our fault though that even our closest rival is absolute dross.

All we can do is worry about us. Get stronger every window and become harder to get through.

 

@Hammy89 Hearts have also been destroyed in the SPFL to be fair

 

Aye, that's why they're going to get hammered in Europe.

Also, it's interesting to see all Scottish teams that have had to play one or two European qualifiers have suffered domestically.

St Mirren, Killie and Hearts all a shadow of themselves this year.

 

It makes a difference on squads that majorly. We had dodgier starts to the season when we had qualifiers to deal with. Injuries are a bigger issue for both us and the Scum when there’s Europe mid week. The extra games matter a lot.

We now have a squad where it shouldn’t matter as much, it’s got strength in depth. Still lacking in a couple of areas of course, it always seems to be that way at any team where a big player being out couldn’t be replaced properly. Even City without Rodri or KVB can’t replace them to not notice the difference. But I wouldn’t ask for that with us, we should have options we trust coming in.

Ironically, think Trusty is supposed to be that with CCV, but so far I’m not totally believing he can do that. Too early to fully judge him though.

When it comes to Scottish teams that don’t have our strength in depth, Huns/Hearts, competing in Europe - they injuries have a major impact.

 

12 mins into Villa/Bayern, the way Villa are approaching Bayern is a lesson. They may still go on and get beat, even scudded because Bayern are a * monster of a team. But it shows what I want out of our approach, they defend stacked, little space to exploit and explode going forward. And when they have the ball they’re careful, they’re not rushed, they’re definite with the passes. And Bayern have started second guessing the approach.

Early days in this game of course, but Emery in Europe is a master, this is impressive so far.