‘Something special’ on the cards for Postecoglou

ANGE POSTECOGLOU has told his players they have the chance to create something special by seizing their opportunity to qualify from their Europa League group ahead of Real Betis.

The Celtic manager was pleased with his men after their 3-2 win against Ferencvaros on Thursday night secured a UEFA Conference League play-off spot after Christmas at the very least.

But Postecoglou isn’t satisfied with that, and wants his men to go all out to take second place in Group G and give themselves the opportunity of reaching the knockout stages of the Europa League.

“I want to get out of this group,” Postecoglou said.

“The win has given us a chance to progress and we are not going to discount that.

“That’s two away fixtures we have scored three goals each. We just lost control of the game in Betis, but we’ve grown in belief since then and we’re now in a position we can push for second spot.

“Why miss these opportunities? They don’t come around that often when you can create something special.

“You can’t plan for it in two or three years’ time. The opportunity is here and now, so let’s go for it.”

In order to finish second in the group, Celtic will likely need to take something from their next match against leaders Bayer Leverkusen in Germany on November 25th, with Real Betis hosting whipping boys Ferencvaros on the same evening.

Leverkusen put four past Celtic when they came to Glasgow, and did the same to Betis on Thursday night at home, but Postecoglou says that his team will carry the fight to the Bundesliga on their own patch.

“Why not?” he said. “We did in Betis.

“They are a good side and won 4-0 the other night, so it is going to be an enormous task.

“But what a great way to find out. We’ll go there and go at them as we always have.

“That’s the kind of club we want to be and the type of football we want to play.”