The former Celtic midfielder was not impressed with the 7-0 defeat to Barcelona, or their qualifying ties.
Republic of Ireland assistant coach Roy Keane before the game
Celtic lost in the Champions League this week, getting humbled by a sensational Barcelona side.
It was a result understood by many fans, considering the gulf in class between the two sides.
But former Celtic player Roy Keane is having none of it.
The Irishman was speaking on ITV when he went on a big rant about the performance of Celtic, not just against Barcelona, but in Europe in general.
He stated:
“They need to do a lot better in Europe. Easier said than done, of course.
“But even in qualifying, they were poor in the qualifying games. They scraped through.
“The whole mindset has to change. Don’t accept, especially away from home, being the whipping boys of Europe.
“It’s Celtic, a huge club.”
Celtic’s Mikael Lustig looks dejected
Keane, who spent one season at Celtic, was also clearly not impressed with the way Celtic celebrated qualifying for the group stages:
“When they qualified for the group the celebrations for me were way over the top. I actually thought they’d won the competition? People were hugging each other, the manager, the coaches the players.
“It’s not Altrincham, it’s Celtic!”
Celtic did just manage their way through the qualifying stages.
Brendan Rodgers celebrates
They lost two of their three away ties, 2-0 to Israeli outfit Hapoel Be’er Sheva and a humiliating loss to Gibraltar’s own Lincoln Red Imps.
Such performances are not befitting a club of Celtic’s stature and Keane may indeed be echoing the sentiments of plenty of Celtic supporters.
However, even getting to this stage is a massive step up from the Ronny Deila performances in Europe, which were consistently poor.
The Barcelona result may be embarrassing, but it is still better than being turned over by Molde in the Europa League.
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