ANGE POSTECOGLOU has told Celtic fans that Celtic’s success in the Champions League is coming, but it will take some time.
The Celtic manager was asked about other clubs’ success this season, pointed to Club Brugge who have qualified from their group and have a chance of topping it, despite being draw Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Porto.
The Belgian side are sitting on 10 points, winning their first three games before drawing in Spain.
The Celtic manager opened up on the situation, and gave his thoughts; [Celtic TV]
“Look at those clubs historically. Have they always had those results? They haven’t, I’ll tell you. What it means is, the longer you’re in this competition, the more opportunities you have to grow and make an impact, but you’re not going to go in there for the first time and expect you’re going to dominate the most prestigious club competition in the world.
“We earned the right to be in this competition. We know the areas we’ve come up short in, but at no stage do I, or any objective observer, believe we’ve looked out of place. It’s about being at that level and having the chance to play at that level on a consistent basis. That means having to qualify for it, and every year you want to grow.
“That’s what our objective needs to be, like most clubs our size. If you take away the big five leagues, the clubs that have made an impact at the Champions Leaque level are the ones that are consistent qualifiers for it. If this were our fifth or sixth year of being in the competition on the spin, I’d be having a different discussion.”
Playing consistently in the Champions League will benefit the players, they’ll get some great experience that will enable them to develop and mature as a player. It will also see the club receive millions a year, which will be invested on and off the pitch to progress as a club.
Celtic belong in the Champions League, it was never going to be easy this year, but we’ve got the experience, and now the focus will be to ensure we qualify for the competition next season. But, Celtic have a European game to win first, they must beat Shakhtar to keep their European dream alive, knowing that a point against Real Madrid could be enough to see Celtic drop into the Europa League.
