Ange reframing challenges

You forget the ones you win so quickly.   Details from the 6-0 disposal of KR Reykjavik, only a year ago are difficult to recall, not so Ferencvaros in the next round.  One year earlier, it was Cluj who scored four at Celtic Park to eliminate us from the Champions League, details of that night are forever etched in your memory.

Vasilis Barkas made his Celtic Park debut with a successful AEK Athens side in 2018.  AEK were not world-beaters but were the best team to knock us out of Champions League qualifiers over the last decade.

Having won a reprieve from a 6-1 aggregate defeat to Legia Warsaw, Ronny Deila had Champions League qualification in his hands after dominating in a draw away to Maribor, but the loss of a late goal at home was a portent for his time at the club.  The next season’s elimination to Malmo was even more painful.  Ferencvaros, Cluj, Maribor and Malmo is a tale of what could and should have been.

Even with our fragilities, Celtic are a better side than Midtjylland.  I doubt they have a single player who interested Ange Postecoglou as a signing target.

Did you notice how Ange reframed challenges as opportunities?  “You can always grasp for excuses and reasons why you can’t do something, but there’s an opportunity to do something special and it falls on the players who are available. There’s no reason why they can’t take that.”

I like this type of thinking, it inspires people to aim ever higher.  Pick up the challenge, Celtic, and we can consign Midtjylland to distant memory, along with Riga and Kalju Nomme.