On the surface, Celtic’s European campaign was a disaster. Rooted to the bottom of the group, with no chance of qualifying for the Europa League in their final game against Feyenoord.
However, the iconic club have been a battling and spirited team throughout the season so far, and fans should not be disheartened by the early departure from football on the continent.
Against Lazio, they held their own across both ties. A late winner denied them at home, whilst in the away leg, they fought with tremendous conviction and were ultimately undone by the individual brilliance of Ciro Immobile.
The ill-discipline to have two men sent off in the opening game against Feynoord and one red card in the away leg to Atletico may be a cause for concern. However, behaviour can be mitigated by management (which is stable in the form of the familiar face of Brendan Rodgers in the dugout.)
There is also a degree of dissipating the pressure to get a first away win in the competition since 2017.
Once they can break the cyclical voodoo of failing to get a positive result abroad, they have an extra avenue of competitiveness to walk down, besides the familiar paths that lead to their Celtic Park home, so often a fortress in domestic league competition.
Including this year, Celtic have made an unbeaten start to the SPL, including 12 wins from 15.
Against St. Johnstone, they conceded a sloppy, scrambled goal. But rebounded to walk away comfortable 3-1 victors. That followed the all-important defeat to Lazio in Europe.
Similarly, after being hit for six by Atletico, they racked up the same tally of unanswered goals themselves against Aberdeen.
There is the classic argument that the lack of competitiveness of the domestic division does them no favours abroad. Perhaps there is merit to the obvious.
But the spirit they’ve shown in the UCL, sometimes overly rash, but always devoted, highlights they have the building blocks for an extended 2024/25 campaign.
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