Champions League starts to take shape

Celtic’s 2-0 win away to Helsingborg was only matched by Dynamo Kiev in the final round of Champions League qualifying ties with the Ukranian side winning 3-1 away from home to Borussia Monchengladbach.

The other eight ties are all well balanced although BATE and Malaga will both be confident of going through after 2-0 home wins over Kiryat Shmona and Panathinaikos respectively.

Home advantage was thin on the ground in last night’s ties with Cluj winning away to Basel with only FC Copenhagen and Aiden McGeady’s Spartak Moscow winning at home.

Spartak face a tough task taking a 2-1 lead to Fenerbache but no matter how remote the prospects are McGeady will be driven on by the prospect of a return to Celtic Park on the Champions League stage that he established his reputation on.

One match of special interest to Celtic fans tonight was the clash in Portugal between Braga and Udinese which ended in a 1-1 draw. Both sides have faced Celtic in recent seasons with the Italians now favourites to clinch a Champions League spot.

Should Celtic see off Helsingborg to reach the group stage they are almost certain to be in the fourth group of seeds which also includes Borussia Dortmund, Paris St Germain and Galatasaray.

The top group of seeds consists of three clubs from England (Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal), two from Spain (Barcelona and Real Madrid) plus Bayern Munich, Porto and AC Milan.

The toughest possible group that Celtic could face would consists of Barcelona, Manchester City and Juventus, slightly more straight forward but less appealing in terms of box office would be Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Olympiakos.

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