Celtic are playing for more than a place in the last 16 of the Europa League when they take on Copenhagen on Thursday.
A 0-0 draw would take the hoops through but any sort of win would allow this season’s SPFL champions to advance straight into the Play Off Round of the Champions League. With a 10 point advantage at the top of the Premiership table Celtic are strong favourites to win their ninth successive title.
Over the last three seasons the Scottish champions have entered the competition at the first qualifying round and while the opponents are generally straightforward getting through eight consecutive midweek matches to reach the group stage takes its toll.
1. Tonight’s draw sees Celtic move up 2 places to 44th in the rankings, above both Dinamo Zagreb and Viktoria Plzen – which could be important for next year.
A win next week would see us overtake Copenhagen, Krasnodar, Anderlecht and Athletic Bilbao as well.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) February 20, 2020
2. Combined with Rangers’ result, Scotland has moved up 2 places to 14th. If both APOEL and Olympiakos go out next week – both lost at home tonight – a top 15 spot is almost certain. It would probably take Basel and Malmo to meet in the Europa final to prevent it at that point.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) February 20, 2020
3. A top 15 spot gives Scotland 1 extra team in Europe from 21/22, including 2 CL teams and another in the new ‘best of the rest’ EL. The other teams will skip at least 1 qualifying round as well.
Up for debate whether this is good or bad from a Celtic point of view.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) February 20, 2020
4. Finally, if Celtic beat Copenhagen next week Scotland will move up to 13th place. That would see the Scottish champion guaranteed group stage football of some kind – as they would likely skip 3 CL qualifying rounds and start in the playoff.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) February 20, 2020
In the last two seasons Celtic have been knocked out at the Third Qualifying Round by AEK Athens and Cluj.
If the Scottish champions go in at the final qualifying round it will cut out six midweek fixtures, with the SPFL Premiership campaign starting on August 3 there will be three rounds of domestic fixtures before the Champions League Play Off round.
With Euro 2020 running through June and July internationalists aren
This season teams such as Cluj were paid €5m.for reaching the Play Off round which is significantly more than Celtic got for winning last season’s SPFL title.
The winners of the Play Off go into the Champions League with the losers dropping into the Europa League group stage.
