Fragile Feyenoord offers hope

The status of this Champions League group is officially….alright .  In yesterday’s blog I said our draw was all about Pot 3.  Turns out, this wasn’t the case.  Feyenoord, our Pot 1 opponents, are the weakest we are ever likely to draw from that tier.  They earned their spot by being Dutch champions and benefiting largely from the performances of Ajax, who along with PSG are the only top 20 rated European teams outside England, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Feyenoord is almost a verb in Dutch, a bit like to “Hibs” something is in English.  Since their infamous Uefa Cup Final against Tottenham in 1974 they have won the league only five times.  Their record number of consecutive titles is two (achieved once).

They are a club characterised by greatness that vanishes in the night.  Think back to that time they had one of Europe’s top five strikers, but stuck him on the wing on the rare occasions he played (Brendan, note 21-year-old Liel Abada).  Feyenoord are a gift of a Pot 1 opponent and the weakest team we will face.

Atletico Madrid finished second in La Liga last season, a point behind neighbours Real.  They were an eye-watering 28 points and nine places above Pot 1 Sevilla.  Real thumped us home and away on Champions League duty without leaving second gear, albeit we had 60 minutes in the sun before darkness fell.  If Celtic lay a glove on Atletico it would take a master gameplan – I would be surprised.

Last season Lazio finished above a Champions League finalist as well as a Champions League semi-finalist.  Our wins over them in 2019 are among the highlights of Celtic’s last decade.  We defended stoutly in both Europa League group games, before snatching two late winners.  Football seldom tastes as sweet.

It is no coincidence that over two periods of manager, Neil Lennon’s results were better in group stage and knockout round European games than either Brendan Rodgers or Ange Postecoglou.  Neil defended his box when it was appropriate to do so and gave us wonderful football memories.  Brendan and Ange recorded some of our heaviest defeats in European competition.  Sure, we need to test ourselves, but Brendan, we also need results.  It’s Tony Watt’s goal against Barcelona the Celtic social admins continually play, not Tony Ralston’s gumption against PSG.

There will be more blogs up throughout the day.