The consequences of Celtic’s win over Anderlecht will be much further reaching than three points on the board in the Group B table.
It’s not cut and dried but the hoops now looked nailed on to finish in third place with only some highly unlikely Anderlecht victories capable of upsetting that situation.
A home draw against the Belgians will almost certainly see Celtic drop into the Europa League and pick up €500,000 for their troubles. If Celtic get through to the last 16 they will pick up a further €750,000 directly from UEFA plus gate receipts from two matches.
As well as the cash and prestige, a run to the last 16 of the Europa League would be priceless in terms of co-efficient points and perfectly timed.
Big changes are in the pipeline for next season’s Champions League qualifying process with the 10 points that Celtic earned in season 2012/13 season dropping off their co-efficient tally.
Put simply a similar points haul, from Champions League or Europa League is needed to stand still and maintain the sort of scoring that has ensured that Celtic have been seeded in each qualifying round over the last few seasons.
The fine detail of next season’s qualification process has still to be published but it is likely to involve four qualifying rounds and involve champions from higher ranked nations such as Switzerland, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
Being unseeded and getting drawn against that calibre of opponent in the August Play Off round will greatly reduce the chances of qualification to the group phase.
If Celtic can go on to beat Anderlecht at home and get through one round in the Europa League it should be enough to ensure that the qualification process continues to involve champions from countries such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.