Stan Petrov’s blunt Champions League verdict on Celtic’s near miss

Stan Petrov watched Celtic’s Champions League exit with the same frustrations as the majority of supporters inside Celtic Park.

For more than 70 minutes Ange Postecoglou’s side threatened to balance out last week’s defeat in Leipzig but their street-wise opponents had that extra something that delivered them the points that puts them in pole position to join Real Madrid in the last 16 of the competition.

Fifteen months ago Ange Postecoglou inherited a broken club, a look at the team-sheets against Midtjylland confirms that. Great progress has been made but the next stage looks much more formidable as Petrov acknowledged.

Picking up on his comments, the Daily Record reports the former Celtic midfielder saying:

It’s a learning process for him and the team. It’s not just about the quality in the way you play. You have to get results in a certain way.

You have to make that difference. You have to make sure you give yourself a chance. People talk about how well we do, but people also talk about what you achieve and achieving is winning games.

That’s what you analyse. When that campaign finishes, you analyse and add what you need to add for the next one.

Celtic still have two more Champions League nights to get through, the stakes have been lowered but there remains strong interest in how the side performs, to see if they can deliver the win that large sections of their performances in the four matches to date has possibly deserved.

The Champions League is the most unforgiving of arenas, it can also be the most rewarding with Shakhtar Donetsk coming up in a fortnight’s time.