Kris Boyd does not predict Celtic to do much of note in the Champions League.
Kris Boyd at Kilmarnock
Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd has predicted in The Scottish Sun that Celtic will not make it past the group stage of the Champions League.
Celtic featured in the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition this season after failing to do so for two years.
The Glasgow giants failed to make it into the knockout rounds, and Kilmarnock striker Boyd believes that Brendan Rodgers’s side will fail to do again during the 2017-18 campaign.
Kris Boyd at Rangers
“But it strikes me that they have some supporters who now expect to see them really compete with the big boys in Europe next season,” Boyd wrote in The Scottish Sun. “Well, I’ve got news for them. It’s not going to happen.
“Celtic should be good enough to get through the qualifiers and into the group stages. But that’s it. They’ll need to be lucky to get any further, despite what I’m hearing from a lot of their fans.”
“The problem Rodgers has now is that some Celtic fans have got it into their heads they’re a top-class team capable of doing great things in the Champions League next season,” added Boyd.
“Their supporters look at the way they knock the ball around against the likes of Thistle and it’s almost as if they think it’s on a par with the way Barcelona and Real Madrid play. But Europe’s big clubs are still a million miles ahead of them.”
Celtic will, indeed, find it hard to get past the group stage of the Champions League next season, but that will not be the Hoops’ priority.
What the Glasgow giants will be aiming to do is qualify for the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition yet again.
Celtic do have a good squad, but it is not strong enough to challenge for places in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.
Maybe that will change in the coming years, but for now, progressing to the group stage and not advancing any further should not be any kind of embarrassment for the Hoops.
Celtic Park
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