John Collins has admitted that yesterday’s defeat to Spurs was a match that Celtic could have done without.
For the third Saturday in succession the hoops were on the continent following trips to Dresden and Hamburg.
Celtic’s 4-1 defeat from Legia Warsaw puts a massive question mark over the club’s Champions League ambitions with Ronny Deila missing the trip to Finland to stay at home and work with his senior professionals.
Collins took charge of a very youthful side and was under no illusions after the game as he looked back on a 6-1 lesson.
“This game was arranged in February and circumstances have meant we’ve had to come out here with a young team,” the Celtic assistant said.
“Against a Premier League team full of pace, power, quality, and a new manager to impress, it’s a massive step up from the Scottish youth league.
“It’s an experience and an education. You learn from playing against good players. It’s painful but there were patches where we passed it and were brave on the ball. Liam Henderson had a great game. He was in tight situations, three and four goals down and still wanted the ball.”
While Celtic were losing to Spurs Legia Warsaw were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Gornik Zabrze with Marek Saganowski netting a 65th minute equaliser after Legia conceeded a first half own goal.
Legia also lost the first goal of the game in their home matches against St Pat’s and Celtic with Henning Berg aware of the problem.
“I don’t know why we ar having this problem but we have to be ready for Wednesday against Celtic,” he said. “We know that Celtic will provide a big test but it’s something that we are preparing for.”
