Celtic in the Europa League Draw – All you might want to know
After Tuesday’s disastrous 5-1 loss in Linz against LASK, we now find ourselves yet again in the European football’s second tier competition for the second consecutive season.
It’s clearly not where we want to be, but it is what it is as they say, and we have no other alternative than to vote the bullet and get on with it. Hopefully when the dust settles, we can start to look ahead to a decent campaign in the Europa League, which to be brutally honest is our level at this moment in time.
Not according to BBC hack Tom English who could wait to put the boot into Celtic by arguing that the Conference League is actually our level. A case of mistake identity there Tom as you might find that’s for the likes of Hearts and maybe the Rangers, if they make it…
Below is all the relevant information ahead of tomorrows draw ‘s draw in Monaco…
When and where will the Europa League take place? The draw for the Europa League group stage takes place on Friday, August 28 at 12.00 BST in Monaco.
Which pot will Celtic be in? Pots are still to be finalised with the play-off round qualifiers taking place on Thursday. But Celtic are expected to be in Pot Two for Friday’s draw. Certain results could see Celtic jump up to Pot One, though Union Saint-Gilloise are ahead of them in the coefficient rankings. The lowest Celtic can drop in the draw is Pot Two.
Who could Celtic face in the Europa League? Celtic will be drawn against two clubs from each pot to determine their eight fixtures across the campaign.
Pot One could feature European heavyweights such as AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Fenerbahce, Marseille and Olympiacos, while AZ Alkmaar and Real Sociedad could also find themselves at the top table in the Europa League draw.
Teams in Pot Two could potentially include the likes of Union Saint-Gilloise, Sparta Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Rennes, Ferencvaros, Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb and Red Bull Salzburg.
Premier League sides Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are potential Pot Three opponents alongside Sturm Graz, Celta Vigo and Hoffenheim with Anderlecht, Lech Poznan and Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Pot Four will likely include Hapoel Be’er Sheva, NEC Nijmegen and Torreense alongside potentially Besiktas, Sint-Truiden, U Craiova, OFI Crete, Lillestrom and Levski Sofia.
There are some decent sides in this year’s competition, but nowhere near the calibre of club that we would have faced in Europe’s top tier that is the Champions League. Some might see that as a blessing in disguise and maybe Martin O’Neill will fancy one final chance to put right the result against Porto in Seville back in 2003 by winning this trophy.
It would certainly be a redemption of sorts for Celtic but it seems highly unlikely. Probably one of the cash rich English clubs will be celebrating with the Europa League next May. Money talks in football, does it not?
So in summary on the flip side, we will have a better chance of competing, and hopefully get to experience a decent run in the competition. Let’s see what tomorrow brings but the pain and the fallout from Linz is going to take a long, long time with many Celtic supporters now saying that enough is enough.
