Celtic’s five-goal Champions League thriller shows opportunity for smaller teams in cup’s new format

Celtic Park was rocking on Wednesday as the Bhoys defeated Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in their Champions League league phase opener. While some of that was a celebration for Brenden Rodgers’ side running riot with five different goal scorers hitting the back of the net, there was something different there — a true feeling of belief. 

Last season, Celtic had a Champions League group stage to forget only picking up one win, scoring five goals and conceding 15. Now, they’ve already equaled their goals total from an entire six-game group stage, and two thirds through the end of the first matchday, they’re second in the single table behind Bayern Munich.

For a refresher, the top eight teams in the Champions League league phase will automatically qualify for the round of 16 while the teams from ninth to 24th will play a two-legged knockout stage in order to qualify for the last 16. So based on that, Celtic only needs to finish as a top-24 team in this tournament in order to have a shot at the last 16 as opposed to last season when they needed to make it in the top two of a loaded group including Atletico Madrid, Lazio and Feyenoord.

The Bhoys may have defeated one of the worst teams in this season’s edition of UCL but they won’t mind as it’s three points closer to securing a spot in the next round. Their upcoming schedule is a little tougher but if Celtic can take care of business at home, there’s no reason why they can’t make a run. 

Celtic UCL schedule

Matches: Borussia Dortmund (a), Atalanta (a), RB Leipzig (h),  Club Brugge (h), Dinamo Zagreb (a), Young Boys (h), Aston Villa (a)

The RB Leipzig game is the one that stands out there because even getting a draw could be enough if Celtic can win the games against teams that they’re supposed to defeat. Do that, and there’s even a chance they could sneak into the top eight which while it would be shocking, it’s also exactly what the new Swiss format of Champions League is supposed to do.

Celtic are far from the only benefactors from this as Sparta Praha also secured a 3-0 victory but being UCL regulars who sometimes get into bad group stage draws, making sure that the Bhoys face teams around a similar strength to them is a huge boost. This is an experienced side with a strong home-field advantage where no team wants to travel. At a larger level, Sporting Lisbon is another team who benefits from this but under Brendan Rodgers, Celtic have a big key to advancement.

They’ve dominated play in Scotland where they’re perfect in the league and the league cup, and Rodgers has plenty of UCL experience as a manager, but his record was a poor one. Rodgers has gone 4-6-15 in the group stage of Champions League play but he could double that amount of victories by the end of this league stage.

Of course, it’s early in the tournament and things can change quickly but with teams keeping their feet on the gas and scoring early and often, they’ve gotten the message of what these matches mean. With the addition of two matches to the league phase, getting points early also allows chances to rotate as the tournament goes on. If Celtic can build on this, it could be their first appearance in the round of 16 since the 2012-13 season. Eleven years is a long time to go without knockout soccer but Celtic returning would show the benefits of the format shift and open the door for smaller teams looking to truly play the role of Cinderella.