No More Nearly Men For Celtic With A CL Knockout Secured

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BRENDAN RODGERS and his first team charges have had a point to prove in the 2024/25 campaign, and domestically we are well on track to meet our expectations and hopes, and although it may have come as a small surprise to many in the wider world of Scottish football, we have long found ourselves as favourites to finally qualify through to the next stage of the Champions League as well.

Some fantastic European nights under the floodlights this year see us currently sat in 18th place in the newly revamped 36 team competition, six points ahead of English uber spenders Manchester City, and only a single point off the automatic qualification places.

Baccarat is a game of big players, whispered strategies, and James Bond-level cool and that has been Manchester City over the years. Celtic do not need a tuxedo or a glamorous casino to show their own experience as a big player and with online baccarat, you can immerse yourself in this iconic game while sitting on your couch, at your favorite coffee shop, or anywhere your phone or laptop can take you. The Hoops however, will gate crash the glamourous casino just cause we can.

We have naturally had a couple of wobbles along the way, but thanks to an incredibly hard fought 1-0 victory over Young Boys on Wednesday evening at Parkhead, our first aim of securing a Play Off spot has now been achieved and Bhoy are we enjoying it!

The Young Boys clash probably could not have been more dramatic. We required an 86th minute own goal to take the win and lost Daizen Maeda to a straight red card just three minutes later. But that does not tell the full story.

Kyogo Furuhashi scored three times in the opening 45 minutes of the match but saw each of them scrubbed off and ruled out for various reasons, and Arne Engels missed a penalty. They also had chances to level right at the death as well.

The Hoops faithful had their faith tested in this one, that is for sure.

In booking our Play Off spot as a minimum though, and automatic qualification hopes now going down to an intriguing clash with Aston Villa at Villa Park at the end of the month, it does mean Rodgers has ended the 12 year lull in CL knockout football – but nobody wants it to end there given the wait the right side of Glasgow has had to endure.

Villa will be tough under Unai Emery, but this season they have been leaky at the back where as we are undefeated in the last five in Europe (longest unbeaten streak since 2004/05) and we are also unbeaten at home in 30 games across all competitions.

Sadly, the next one is not at Celtic Park but the boost of confidence, and a bit of lady luck shining on us could well help as we approach sunny Birmingham. They are not a side we should fear, and if the Young Boys match makes a few of the players feel that it may finally be their year to make some real European history after our lengthy lull, then going through automatically with a win over the English side would put them on the right side of the history books.

Until then, we simply enjoy the night and the rollercoaster it was and in the words of skipper Callum McGregor, with the Play Off spot guaranteed with what that means, this group are no longer ‘nearly men’.

The question is now, how do they want to be remembered having consigned ‘nearly men’ to the past?

Image Source: unsplash.com

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