Glenn Hoddle claims that Celtic should feel confident of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League.
After two previous horror draws, in back to back seasons Celtic were paired with Manchester City and Barcelona followed by PSG and Bayern Munich, yesterday’s group appears a little less daunting.
Playing Real Madrid jumps out but beside that there is recent Europa League opponent RB Leipzig and the unknown quantity of Shakhtar Donetsk to be faced across the border in Poland.
Under Brendan Rodgers Celtic picked up three points from each campaign plus seven goal hidings in Barcelona and Paris, the new campaign can be faced with a little more optimism but Hoddle is looking at the hoops progressing into the knock-out phase in the new year!
Looking in on BT Sport’s coverage of the draw, Football Scotland reports:
And while it represents a daunting task, former England and Tottenham boss Hoddle believes Celtic can make Parkhead a fortress once again and take maximum points from their three home matches. He told BT Sport: “They will genuinely be saying we can pip that.
“They won’t be looking at perhaps winning the group, but I think they are capable. Even Madrid, they can beat. They can win the three home games. They’ve turned over other big clubs up there and when the atmosphere gets going there’s nothing like it so they’ll feel confident they can get out of the group and into the last 16.”
Ange Postecoglou is likely to be a little more restrained when he faces the media today, the Australian has never managed in the Champions League before with just a couple of players such as Joe Hart, Callum McGregor and Giorgos Giakoumakis having played in the competition.
The matches will be played between September 6 and November 2 but it may not be until Saturday morning that the fixtures are published.
Thanks or sharing that, Glen. We’ll see what happens!