Promising week sets up tantalising group finale
IT might not be considered a great European campaign for Scottish clubs this season with only Rangers and Celtic left from our five initial qualifiers. This wasn’t a major surprise considering the difficulty the smaller clubs in Scotland have in competing at such a high level. With the poor results that Rangers and Celtic had at the start of their group matches, however, there was an increased level of negativity regarding their chances of progressing onto the knockout stages.
This has turned around now with the results that the Glasgow clubs have achieved in the last two Europa League matches. They both kicked off their campaigns with consecutive defeats and they certainly needed to avoid a loss to have any chance of challenging for a qualification spot. With a win and draw against Brondby, Rangers have now achieved this aim, sitting in second spot on goal difference. And Celtic now have gained more points than Rangers but due to how the group results have gone, they are not in the top two yet.
The performances by Rangers were good in both Brondby matches and it has to be said that the Ibrox side were unlucky not to pick up six points. The Norwegians were fortunate to get in front through an own goal from Leon Balogun but Rangers fought back very well to get the vital equaliser. It was certainly an outstanding finish from Ianis Hagi after great play involving James Tavernier, Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent.
This was also certainly down to the positive changes that Steven Gerrard had made after half-time when he brought on a new front three in Hagi, Kemar Roofe and Kent. This was a clever change to make as Brondby then had to deal with three different types of attacking players which proved to be really difficult for them
in the last 25 minutes of the game. They were lucky to come away with the draw but Rangers are now in a challenging position for second spot because Sparta Prague lost again to Lyon, meaning Steven Gerrard’s side can extend their lead in second spot by beating Sparta in Glasgow later this month.
For Celtic, their position in third place in their group is not too negative as the performance against Ferencvaros on Thursday night was outstanding. A neutral who had suddenly started watching this match on TV would never have known Ange Postecoglou’s side were the away team. From start to finish Celtic played a very attacking style of football that created numerous openings and the creativity they demonstrated was as good as I’ve watched in any Europa League match this season.
There’s no doubt that Kyogo Furuhashi and Jota deserve massive credit for what they bring to the attacking style, but I also feel that Anthony Ralston, Josip Juranovic, David Turnbull and Callum McGregor also offer a great deal of attacking flair to the line-up. The three goals were outstanding, and there’s no doubt that Celtic could have had quite a few more on the night. The fact that they lost two makes it look like it was a tight game but that certainly wasn’t the case.
In terms of qualification out of the group into the last 32, the crucial element for Celtic is based on the results from the next group matches on November 25. Even if they were to lose to group leaders Bayer
Leverkusen in their away match, so long as Real Betis don’t beat Ferencvaros then Celtic will have a crucial final home game against Betis where a victory would mean qualification. It would be a big night at Celtic Park if they were in a position to achieve qualification. As I’ve said before, Postecoglou has brought a new attacking dimension to the club and although there are still some doubters out there, his signings and tactics have brought a fresh outlook to Celtic and Scottish football in general.
It’s an interesting time coming up as we have matches involving the Scotland team and our two biggest club sides where results are required to achieve qualification in major competitions. The best scenario involves the national team, as a win in next week’s game against Moldova will mean qualification to the World Cup play-offs.
AND ANOTHER THING
IT’S been a sad week considering we have had to endure the loss of one of Scottish football’s legendary figures in Walter Smith. It has been offset in some ways by the fitting tributes that have been paid to him from the many people who came into contact with him over the years, from people who knew him through football but also from others who had the privilege of meeting him under normal circumstances. The organisation of his funeral was outstanding with the cortege going past Ibrox to be honoured by the turnout of thousands of fans before the private ceremony itself solely attended by family and friends.
Susan Egelstaff