‘EUROPA LEAGUE? LET’S TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED,’ DAVIES
CELTIC assistant manager Chris Davies today refused to rule out the Belgian Champions Anderlecht in the race for Group B’s Europa League spot.
Celtic are sitting pretty 3 points ahead of Anderlecht and these were won on that fantastic 3-0 win in Brussels.
Anderlecht have so far lost every game heavily and have yet to score.
However they will feel that if they can take something from their home match against Bayern Munich later this month and then win in Glasgow at the start of December then they can pip Celtic to the post. They will of course assume that Celtic’s task in Paris will be too much for any realistic hope of an upset.
Reflecting on the Champions League campaign to date and the Europa League prize for the side finishing third in the group, Davies was keen to stress that it was far from a done deal that Celtic will make it through.
“Anderlecht are a good team, that’s what we have to remember,” he said.
“We beat them but they were good. We were very good. It wasn’t that they were bad.
“But it is not for granted that we are in the Europa League.
“They have two more games to play, not just one against us.
“We have two games to go. We have PSG and can we perform at home to Anderlecht?
“We are positive and if we perform as we did the other night and we take that into the Anderlecht game there is no reason why we won’t do that.
“But this is football and you can’t take anything for granted and we never underestimate any opponent.
“So to say now we are in the Europa League, we are not. We are still fighting to get there,” Davies stressed.
Looking back over the the ten matches played in the Champions League so far since he arrived in Glasgow to assist Brendan Rodgers, Davies reckons that Celtic have not enjoyed the rub of the green when it comes to the draws.
“In the 16 groups over the last two years we have probably had the hardest two in terms of the top two,” he said.
“So you need a little bit luck there because there is a gulf.
“Not many of the pot three or four teams will get out.
“You need a good draw and a bit of luck but at the moment we are performing and progressing and that is what we all want to see.”
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