Streamlined qualifiers to ease Celtic’s route to Euro riches
● One match to reach Champions League ● Barnes insists title win won’t be tainted
Celtic could be set for a clearer route into next season’s Champions League.
Uefa, according to a report in the Times newspaper, is planning to streamline qualifying matches for next season’s European competitions.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the governing body is having to reshape the calendar for the 2020-2021 campaign. The Champions League will not start until 20 October, with the hope this season’s tournament and Europa League can be completed in August.
That would mean Rangers travelling to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg of their last-16 Europa League tie, trailing 3-1 from the Ibrox match back in March.
As for next season’s competitions, Uefa is considering different options.
One would include qualifiers for the tournaments being reduced to one leg, possibly played at a neutral venue.
Another option for the Champions League is for only one qualifying round, with six places available through qualifiers for the continent’s prestigious competition.
It is understood that would involve the champions of the 12 highest-ranked countries who do not have a club in the group stage already competing in a play-off round. Celtic are almost certain to have one of those slots.
It would mean Celtic would not have to navigate a number of qualifying rounds and would present them with a much shorter path to reach the group stage and earn the financial rewards that presents.
Three Scottish clubs are set to enter qualifying for the Europa League. Qualifiers are much more important for that competition, with more than half entering the group stage that way. Therefore, formulating a plan for next season’s Europa League appears more complicated.
Uefa has set a deadline of 25 May for national league associations to inform the governing body of their plans to complete the season.
Meanwhile, former Celtic manager John Barnes believes the Parkhead club will be fully deserving of the Premiership title if the season is called – but reckons Rangers supporters will say the victory is “tainted”.
Celtic were 13 points clear of Rangers at the top of the table when Scottish football was suspended indefinitely, although the Ibrox club have a game in hand and the two rivals are still due to face each other twice.
The chances of live sport resuming any time soon are slim but it has yet to be decided how the top flight will be concluded. The SPFL’S resolution by which the Championship, League 1 and League 2 were terminated on a pointsper-game system is expected to be used for the Premiership.
“If Celtic win the title there has to be promotion and relegation. Just like if you do the same thing in England and Liverpool get the title, there has to be promotion and relegation,” Barnes told Bonuscodebets.co.uk.
“Either you honour the league as it is, stopping the league, therefore whoever is first wins the league and the
“Celtic will get the title whatever the situation and I don’t think anything about it is tainted. You will have deservedly won the league because that’s what was decided”
JOHN BARNES
bottom three go down and the top three in the next division come up. Or, you say we need to finish the season.
“As to whether it’s tainted, no, because this is what it is.
They’ll get the title whatever the situation and I don’t think anything about it is tainted because you will have deservedly won the league because that’s what was decided.
“Rangers fans will say that. If Liverpool win under the same circumstances maybe Manchester United fans will say that. What does that mean? Does that mean that it didn’t happen? Of course it happened.”
There are eight rounds of fixtures remaining in the Scottish Premiership and Barnes added: “You can finish the season, there’s not many games to go.
“Once you’re able to play again you can finish the season then start next season.”