Exclusive: John Barnes comments on Celtic’s Champions League chances

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Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic will take on Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Anderlecht in the group stage of the Champions League this season.

Former Liverpool and Newcastle United star John Barnes has told HITC Sport that Celtic can win a couple of games in the Champions League group stage this season.

Although the former Celtic manager does not expect Brendan Rodgers’s side to progress to the last-16 stage of Europe’s premier club competition, the 53-year-old ex-England international believes that it will be a fantastic achievement for the Hoops if they are able to end up third in the group and drop to the Europa League.

In an exclusive interview with HITC Sport, Barnes, speaking on behalf of Bonus Code Bets, said when asked about Celtic’s chances in the Champions League this season: “If they can go any further, for me it’s a miracle, but I think they can win a couple of games, they can win a couple of games.”

“Of course, they will be aiming for a top two, but of course if they can finish third and go into the Europa League then fine,” added Barnes.

“All they can do if play their matches. As we have seen in the past, they have actually gone through the group stages. So with a bit of luck they can, but once again, they are in a difficult group.

“If they can finish third and go through to the Europa League, that would be fantastic for them.”

Celtic will take on Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Anderlecht in Champions League Group B.

Bayern and PSG are two of the strongest teams in Europe and are among the favourites for the Champions League this season.

Anderlecht are a good team, too, and Celtic are going to find it tough to get out of the group.

While Bayern have top-class players such as Ribery, Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben, PSG signed Brazil international forward Neymar from Barcelona in the summer transfer window.

The German and the French giants are the two favourites to progress to the last-16 stage from Group B, but Scottish Premiership side Celtic do have a chance of finishing third and dropping to the Europa League.