EURO FLOPS ARE SEEKING SOME HOME COMFORTS:
READ STEPHEN McGOWAN ON PAGE 117
GIVE Celtic a must-win domestic game and they tend to get the job done. Rangers games? No problem. A big cup game at Hampden? Lay every last dollar on another trophy in the cabinet.
Europe is a rather different story.
A boarding pass is all it takes to drain the confidence away. By the first glimpse of Boots at Glasgow Airport, they start reaching for the Diocalm.
Players who look imperious in a Scottish context lose one goal and they’re gone. They don’t steady the ship, they fall to pieces.
They stutter. They flap. They swipe at fresh-air clearances. They look incapable of keeping control of the ball in a telephone box. They lose one, panic and ship another within five minutes.
They lost two in six minutes in Warsaw. Two in six minutes in Salzburg. Two in two minutes in Zagreb. Two in five minutes against Fenerbahce. Two in seven minutes in Molde. Two in two minutes against Be’er Sheva. Two in two in Barcelona. Two in one minute in Astana. Two in two minutes against PSG in Glasgow. Three in five minutes in Paris.
Like an England batting collapse on Test Match Special, the players and the faces might change, but the mental weakness never does. It’s been going on for years.
Since reaching the UEFA Cup final in Seville in 2003, Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan, Tony Mowbray, Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers have all been in charge.
The total number of away wins in Europe over that period extends to a grand total of 13.
Two years ago, Rodgers was given a remit to change all this.
And, after a heartening 1-1 draw in Monchengladbach in the Champions League in November 2016, the current manager outlined a bold vision.
‘I would hope Celtic can become a last-16 team consistently within the next three years,’ he said.
Yet in meek, feeble defeats in Athens, Salzburg and Leipzig, the Parkhead side have shown alarming signs of sliding backwards. They’re back in an old, familiar groove.
Forget the last 16 of the Champions League. Right now, they’re sinking cans of Red Bull in the hope of finding the wings to claim second in a Europa League group.
Injuries played a part in Leipzig the other night, no question. But even Scott Brown and Tom Rogic been in the side, porous defending was the rule rather than the exception.
At the height of Celtic’s summer of discontent, Rodgers used the word ‘terminado’ to outline how he would react if he felt the club were no longer moving forward. There was no room for ambiguity there.
UEFA figures released this week show Scotland’s champions made more money from the Champions League last season than Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and a raft of continental giants.
Seventeenth on the list of 32 clubs, they made £28million — substantially more than the managerless Spartak Moscow side who kept the door shut at Ibrox the other night. But there is no sign of a team moving forward.
In a blunt admission last week, Rodgers admitted the club had spent the summer standing still.
And the blame for that is across the board. A consequence of collective failings, from the failure to sign John McGinn to wasting good money on Marvin Compper and Charly Musonda.
The decision to sell Moussa Dembele without a decent replacement in the wings left 20-year-old rookie Odsonne Edouard as the only fit forward while Leigh Griffiths remains on the sidelines.
The inability of Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic to be both fit and available at the same time, meanwhile, has exposed Jack Hendry to a harsh and unforgiving spotlight.
And all the while the wage bill goes up as the value for money goes down.
One glance at the teamsheet was all it took to predict what was coming in Leipzig the other night.
And as an inevitable defeat unfolded, the chants of ‘here we go for ten-in-a-row’ from the travelling support showed where Scotland’s champions are right now.
Taking refuge in parochialism as Europe disappears over the horizon.
Holding key players back in reserve for a Betfred Cup semi-final meeting with Hearts. Hoping upon hope that the
Celtic turn up at Murrayfield tomorrow.