How the Celtic players rated across their entire Champions League campaign

Using our ratings for every Celtic match since the play-off against Astana and right through to Tuesday's defeat to Anderlecht, we've compiled a table to show which players had better Champions League campaigns.

Left-back Kieran Tierney was one of the better performers across the campaign. Picture: SNS

The reason we’ve included the Astana double-header is that the play-off round is looked upon as part of the Champions League more than the other qualifiers, with the famous theme song played before kick-off, and we wanted a bigger sample size than just the six group stage games.

However, for those who disagree with our method, there is an additional table further down which shows the performance of the players in group matches only.

To qualify for the final ratings table, a Celtic player had to have featured in at least 50 per cent of matches. Therefore, there is no Anthony Ralston, Cristian Gamboa, Odsonne Edouard or Patrick Roberts (until later).

These ratings were not compiled using data. Only the eye test played a part in forming them, which were selected in the immediate aftermath of each and every Champions League fixture. It means our results are not an exact science but should, hopefully, give you a good indication of who performed and who didn’t.

Celtic’s Champions League ratings table

1. Kieran Tierney - 6.5

2. James Forrest - 6.43

3. Callum McGregor - 6.33

4. Scott Sinclair - 6.14

5. Scott Brown - 6.125

6. Craig Gordon - 6

7. Olivier Ntcham - 6

8. Mikael Lustig - 5.875

9. Dedryck Boyata - 5.8

10. Jozo Simunovic - 5.8

11. Tom Rogic - 5.75

12. Moussa Dembele - 5.75

13. Leigh Griffiths - 5.71

14. Nir Bitton - 5.4

15. Stuart Armstrong - 4.8

The biggest surprise is Sinclair featuring in the top five, though you’ll soon realise why. Brown excelled in matches were Celtic had a handle on the fixture - the two Anderlecht games and Bayern Munich at home - but ended up having to swim against the current in the other matches. The two first-choice centre-backs appearing in the bottom six indicates that Celtic didn’t really miss signing additional cover for when Boyata and then Simunovic were injured. Armstrong propping up the table is no surprise.

Variance when excluding play-off matches

Olivier Ntcham - 6 to 5.25 (-0.75)

Scott Sinclair - 6.14 to 5.4 (-0.74)

Tom Rogic - 5.75 to 5.17 (-0.58)

Jozo Simunovic* - 5.8 to 5.25 (-0.55)

Leigh Griffiths - 5.71 to 5.2 (-0.51)

Callum McGregor - 6.33 to 6 (-0.33)

Stuart Armstrong** - 4.8 to 4.5 (-0.3)

Scott Brown - 6.25 to 6 (-0.25)

James Forrest - 6.43 to 6.2 - (-0.23)

Mikael Lustig - 5.875 to 6 (+0.125)

Nir Bitton - 5.4 to 5.667 (+0.267)

Patrick Roberts*** - does not qualify to 6.67

*Simunovic played in only one play-off match

**Armstrong played in two but received a ‘n/a’ for one as the substitute appearance came too late

***Roberts played in three group stage matches and zero play-offs. He doesn’t reach the 50 per cent criteria unless the play-off games are excluded.

Celtic ratings table (Champions League group games only)

1. Patrick Roberts - 6.67

2. Kieran Tierney - 6.5

3. James Forrest - 6.2

4. Scott Brown - 6

5. Craig Gordon - 6

6. Mikael Lustig - 6

7. Callum McGregor - 6

8. Dedryck Boyata - 5.8

9. Moussa Dembele - 5.75

10. Nir Bitton - 5.667

11. Scott Sinclair - 5.4

12. Jozo Simunovic - 5.25

13. Olivier Ntcham - 5.25

14. Leigh Griffiths - 5.2

15. Tom Rogic - 5.17

16. Stuart Armstrong - 4.5

With the exception of Roberts, the top three is pretty much what you’ve have imagined from the group stage. Ntcham may have had the biggest drop in point average, but Sinclair had the biggest drop in position on the final ladder - going from 4th to 11th. Owing to recency bias, that seems about right. It’s interesting that five of the top seven players are Scottish.

Best group stage performance

James Forrest v Bayern (h) - 9/10; Jozo Simunovic v Anderlecht (a) - 9/10

Worst group stage performance

Jozo Simunovic v PSG (h) - 2/10