No more Imposter Syndrome – This Celtic team belongs in Champions League | OneFootball

To play football the Glasgow Celtic way…

Jock Stein, stadium image at Celtic Park, 2018. Photo Imago

Jock Stein himself would have been proud of his great team if they delivered a performance in a European Cup match like Brendan’s side produced on Tuesday night under the lights at Celtic Park.

The old verse in that well known Celtic song goes like ‘to play football the Glasgow Celtic way’ yes you know the one.

25/5/1967 European Cup Final 1967. Inter Milan v Celtic. Celtic manager Jock Stein makes his way through the fans who have invaded the pitch following the Celtic victory. Photo: Offside / Mirrorpix.

The great footballers in our wonderful club’s history have played their football the Glasgow Celtic way. Jock Stein famously and expertly put it after our the most significant win in our history on that beautiful day in Lisbon back in 1967. “ We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football”. That is the perfect definition of the Celtic way of playing the game.

It’s football played the way it should be played, beautiful and entertaining for the supporters. That’s exactly the kind of football we were treated to on Wednesday night, and it was joy to behold, and it was a performance fitting of any great Celtic side.

Granted it wasn’t in anyway as significant as the European Cup Final win in Lisbon on 25 May 1967, or any other European performances in that era, but it was a performance that the great man himself would have been delighted with.

Brendan’s team has played some great football domestically, that performance against Aberdeen in the Premier Sports Cup was certainly sensational but Wednesday night was an entirely different story.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers talks with Callum McGregor of Celtic during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The tempo we played at and the ability we showed against an elite German side in RB Leipzig was incredible and proved that we can indeed compete at the very top level. In their heart of hearts the Celtic players know how tough the Champions League has been under Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers last season where we got six points in two campaigns. Now we have seven this year with four games to play.

This side if they continue to perform consistently can make their mark at the very top level. The players now have the confidence and the belief and any side playing Celtic will be extra wary after what happened on Wednesday night to RB Leipzig.

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic runs with the ball under pressure from Amadou Haidara of RB Leipzig during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

I’m not saying we can win the tournament as that would be an absurd thing to say, but we can make the rest of Europe stand up and recognise us as a team to be respected. Brendan stated at the start of the season that he wanted to make the play-offs. His team is certainly on course to do just that but also has a real opportunity to make the top eight that go straight into the round of 16.

Three wins from four should see that happen and the odds have Celtic doing that are now down to 7/1 from 25/1. We’ll look at this separately.

The draw was kind to Celtic this season, that’s fairly unusual in itself. The opposite can be said for poor old RB Leipzig who ended up with probably the toughest draw of all the teams and they’ve ended up pointless after four games with Celtic being the only side to beat them by more than one goal.

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Celtic’s remain fixtures are FC Brugge at Celtic Park on 27 November, Dinamo Zagreb away on 10 December, Young Boys at Celtic Park on 22 January then finally Aston Villa in Birmingham on 29 January. Three wins from four is possible especially if the team build on that performance the other night.

There’s no reason why Celtic can’t do it, especially as the player will shed their Champions League imposter syndrome after the last two fine performances against Atalanta and RB Leipzig.

UEFA Champions League Table at the half way point

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Celtic in the Thirties, Volumes One & Two by Matt Corr – out now on Celtic Star Books.

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