Celtic reaction: 11-year first overlooked; selective Copenhagen comparison; Rodgers removed

Rodgers’ men signed off with a victory over their Dutch counterparts

Celtic both ending a ten-year wait for a home victory in the Champions League and a 15-game winless sequence at the level made for an enthralling added-time 2-1 success over Feyenoord. It was a case of too little too late, but the result inevitably will colour relief over a nighht that could have no impact on another wholly inadequate European-interest ending fourth place finish in a group campaign. The evening offered plenty to chew over, with Andrew Smith picking over three elements.

11-year first overlooked

So little reward has been derived by Celtic in club football’s most prestigious tournament since Neil Lennon’s team qualified for the last 16 in 2012, the mere act of digging out a win over the Rotterdam side with a 91st minute Gustaf Lagerbielke header completely altered where this group tilt sits in an historical context. It is natural to question whether the encounter might have played out differently had there been anything riding on the outcome, but that doesn’t change certain facts. If Brendan Rodgers’ makeshift side hadn’t been able to show real mettle and shake off Sunday’s second-half disintegration at Kilmarnock to lance a weeping sore, the heat coming on them would have demanded a climate conference. Undoubtedly, for that to occur, they had to rely on some good fortune and good goalkeeping from Joe Hart against the first Group E opponent to the east end of Glasgow in Group that possibly deserved more from their visit. Celtic were able to hang tough and, instead of finishing their section with an equal all-time low of one point – as defeat would have meant – they were able to amass four points. For context, that is a total that eclipses their hauls from the four group campaigns since the 2012-13 highlight, which came in 2013-14, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2022-23. Moreover, this is the only occasion since then that they have demonstrated any sort of competitiveness and claimed a tangible benefit from playing in their apparently power-giving Celtic Park citadel. Having contrived to lose at the venue first out to Lazio 2-1 through a 95th-minute goal concession in a contest they could easily have won, the 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid preceding the Feyenoord success means they have now avoided defeat in back-to-back Champions League home games in a season Lennon’s men drew with Benfica before beating Barcelona and Spartak Moscow 11 years ago.

Celtic players salute their support after a Champions League win that made for a group record that improved on recent sorties in the competition in surprising ways. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Selective Copenhagen comparison

Celtic should be able to produce better European results than they have fashioned in the past decades. They should have recruited more productively than they did in the summer, and certainly acquired at least a couple of more seasoned and sturdy performers … the absence of such a fresh influx of this type patently hampering them on the continental and domestic domain. Yet, to use the example of Copenhagen reaching the last 16 in a group in which they knocked out Manchester United and Galatasaray as proof positive that their trading model is wrong is just so desperately simplistic. Copenhagen are an outlier, although certainly they show clubs with smaller budgets than Celtic can have their moments. Yet, the fact that the Danes dunted United out of the competition could just as easily be read as demonstrating that even a huge spend on all manner of players offers no guarantee in the competition. Not when the Old Trafford club’s net outlay was, oh, just the £135million. A fully £70m more than Benfica lavished on new signings in the close season … to finish third in their section and with the same points total of four.

Rodgers replaced

The official UEFA-issued team sheet wouldn’t have made the most welcome reading for Brendan Rodgers. He could have wondered if the loss to Kilmarnock on Sunday had been more grievous to his employment prospects than appeared possible. For in the section below them line-ups reserved for the names of club managers and directly across from Arne Slot appearing under the Feyenoord selection it simply read “assistant coach John Kennedy”.

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