MIKAEL LUSTIG admitted Celtic threw away their chance of European progress with their displays against the minnows of Molde.
The Swedish defender, stand-in skipper for the injured Scott Brown, said: “It has been strange in Europe this season.“Before, we’ve struggled away from home and not taken points, but now we can go to Ajax and Fenerbahce and get draws. It’s good for the confidence, but there’s still work to do.
“When you look back, it’s the games against Molde that did us. If we could have taken six points there we could have gone through.
“The game against Fenerbahce was the toughest, but we have played against them twice now. We should have won at Celtic Park and we travelled to Turkey and took a point. If you look at both matches against them, we’ve done well.”Lustig, speaking on the official Celtic site, added the experience of this campaign could prove helpful to Hoops’ young squad with players such as Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and Tom Rogic as they target another assault on the Champions League after the failure to qualify in the last two seasons.
The cultured right-back said: “Going away from home and getting a result in two hard games in Amsterdam and Istanbul is good.
“There are guys in our team who are playing in Europe for the first time as well, so it’s good for them to get the experience and, hopefully, we’ll do better next year.”
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CELTIC’S march to the UEFA Cup Final in Seville in 2003 is covered extensively in an insightful chapter in CQN’s new book THE WINDS OF CHANGE’.
You can look back to the season when Martin O’Neill’s team, with players such as Henrik Larsson, John Hartson, Neil Lennon, Chris Sutton and Paul Lambert, saw off challenges from the likes of Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Stuttgart, Celta Vigo and Boavista on their way to the Final against Jose Mourinho’s Porto. The history books show the Portuguese won 3-2 in extra-time, but that doesn’t get anywhere near the real story.Relive that spectacular European assault in THE WINDS OF CHANGE which covers the period of 1991 and 2005 when eight individuals took turns in managing the club – starting with Liam Brady and finishing with Martin O’Neill.
It’s a MUST for every Celtic supporter You can order it HERE. You can also click on the image below. The book is also available at Celtic stores, Waterstones, Hyndland Books, Carlton Books and Timland across from the Barrowlands.
