CELTIC'S defeat against Villarreal in Spain on Tuesday night has left a third consecutive qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League a distant dream for Gordon Strachan's side. Even bookmakers bet365 have pushed the Scottish champions out to 11/2 to qualify from Group E, even though only one-third of the matches have been played so far.
Given that Celtic were only seeded third and drew European champions Manchester United and Villarreal, who finished second in La Liga last season, perhaps expectations of progress were too high to begin with. But how might Celtic turn things around?
Here, The Scotsman plots a road to Champions League redemption:
Matchday 3, 21 October: Old Trafford is hardly the most likely place for Strachan to earn his first European victory away from home as Celtic manager. Yet two seasons ago his side scored twice at the Theatre of Dreams before losing a thrilling game 3-2, and that only because Artur Boruc gave away a crazy penalty in the first half. Manchester United haven't fired on all cylinders yet this season and have fresh injury concerns, so a draw might not be out of the question. Aalborg proved they are capable of frustrating sides away from home when drawing with Celtic on Matchday 1 – a repeat performance against Villarreal would be very welcome, too.
Prediction: Manchester United 1 Celtic 1; Villarreal 2 Aalborg 0
Matchday 4, 5 November: The return fixtures from a fortnight previous. Few present will ever forget Shunsuke Nakamura's spectacular free kick that defeated Manchester United at Parkhead in 2006 and clinched a place in the last 16 with a game to spare. It only takes one moment of magic from the Japanese or a player like Shaun Maloney, Aiden McGeady or Georgios Samaras to humble Sir Alex Ferguson's men again. However, Aalborg will need to put up stiffer resistance against Villarreal in Denmark than they did against United on Matchday 2.
Prediction: Celtic 1 Manchester United 0; Aalborg 1 Villarreal 1
Matchday 5, 25 November: If all goes according to plan, Celtic would be level on five points with United and three points behind group leaders Villarreal with two games to go. It would be an opportune time to break that away-day duck in the Champions League, and in Aalborg there lies the best chance to do so since meeting FC Copenhagen two seasons ago. A better performance in Denmark, and a determined effort from United in Spain, and Celtic would have it all to play for on the last night of the group stage.
Prediction: Aalborg 0 Celtic 2; Villarreal 1 Manchester United 2
Matchday 6, 10 December: Put it in your diaries; this is the day Celtic's European redemption could be complete. Tied on eight points with Villarreal, a draw would be good enough for the Spaniards to progress on the head-to-head tie-breaker. Do they sit in and hit on the break? If so, it would permit a raucous Celtic Park to play on their visitors' nerves in the same way that did for the likes of Juventus and Barcelona in the recent past. All that's left is for a hero to emerge from the present day Celtic squad.
Prediction: Celtic 1 Villarreal 0; Manchester United 3 Aalborg 0.
Final group standings:
Celtic 11,
Manchester United 11
Villarreal 8
Aalborg 2
The full article contains 576 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
