Celtic’s Europa Regret

Celtic’s last 32 Europa League opponents FC Copenhagen have tonight went through to the quarter-finals of the competition that they knocked the hoops out in February after defeating Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir, 3-1 on aggregate.

The Danish side overcame a 1-0 loss in the first leg, which took place all the way back on the 12th of March.

With Copenhagen advancing, this comes as a huge disappointment for Celtic as this really could have been them that were advancing to the last eight stage of the European competition.

If you cast your minds back to February, it was a very disappointing and wet evening when Celtic faced off against Copenhagen.

Fans went into the game with a lot of anticipation that I would be us that would be advancing in the Europa League.

When they came out the draw, there was much excitement, as it was the so-called ‘easy draw’ that we were asking for at this stage and had not got the luck of having in recent years.

The second leg was also made even better by the fact, we had taken a positive result away from home, which rarely happens to Celtic when playing away from home, drawing 1-1. So all we pretty much had to do was get another home win, during what seemed to be a successful Europa League campaign. That night, went the complete opposite way but.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the worst performance in the world from the Bhoys but it certainly wasn’t the best. Copenhagen took the lead but of course, Odsonne Edouard scored late on to even the game up at 1-1 and 2-2 over the tie.

At this point, it looked like it was heading for extra time, but Jozo Simunovic had other ideas. His short back pass to Fraser Forster was the beginning of a capitulation which saw Celtic lose 3-1 on the night and 4-2 overall.

It was so disappointing because this was probably our best chance at a late European run in years. So watching Copenhagen advance yet again just brings back the feeling of that night and a feeling of ‘that could be us’

Of course, it may not feel the same without the fans being there but it would be brilliant to see the hoops back on that stage.

There are obviously no guarantees that we could advance against Basaksehir but if we were able to defeat Copenhagen that night, I would at least fancy our chances of getting to the quarter-finals in a similar fashion.

Hopefully, we can get back to that stage one day, up there with some of the best that Europe has to offer. It is becoming harder than ever to keep up with some of the giants across the globe, so I don’t see myself getting my hopes up again but who knows.