Johan Mjallby suggests Rangers are partially to blame for Celtic’s inability to make themselves European force

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Johan Mjallby has partially blamed Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers for Celtic’s inability to make a major impact in Europe.

Former Celtic Assistant Manager Johan Mjallby

Former Celtic defender Johan Mjallby has suggested that Rangers are partially to blame for the Hoops’ inability to make a major impact on the European stage over the last few years, The Scottish Sun reports.

The Bhoys are preparing for another Champions League qualification campaign following their Scottish Premiership title win this past season, and will be hoping that they can potentially make it past the group-stages for the first time since 2012/13 when they reached the last 16.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers with Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha

But Mjallby – who was part of the Celtic side that reached the 2003 UEFA Cup final – has suggested that Brendan Rodgers’ men’s chances of success could well depend on the quality within the squad of their bitter rivals.

“Domestic competition is very important. When I was at Celtic, Rangers were always a problem,” he said, as reported by The Scottish Sun.

Celtic failed to make it out of the group-stages of this past season’s Champions League

“Occasionally we would have to adapt our style of play and try new formations against them. This is the problem Celtic have now.

“Domestically, they are always on top. They play with lots of possession, a dominant brand of football. Then when you go to Europe, you are inexperienced in playing with a Plan B.”

In fairness to Rodgers’ men, they have arguably put up their best fight in the Champions League for a number of years. While they did not win a single game, they put in a number of promising performances, especially as they arguably found themselves in perhaps the toughest group, with Barcelona and Manchester City included.

Mjallby believes Rangers’ struggles have hurt Celtic on the continent

And that has come in a season where they strolled to the title, finishing the domestic campaign unbeaten, so it could certainly be argued that Rangers’ fortunes have been irrelevant.

So while Mjallby’s theory perhaps does not prove to be the case on every occasion, Rangers fans would probably be willing to temporarily boost Celtic’s ability to adapt to playing in Europe if it was because they were starting to rival them at the summit of the top flight, and thus, challenging for that place at Europe’s top table.