Anderlecht are ‘hurting the eyes’ as crisis bites

THE mega-rich Paris Saint-Germain side that inflicted Celtic’s record home European defeat was described by Brendan Rodgers as ‘11 motorbikes’.

But, unlike Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Co, the next Champions League opponents revving up for a crack at the Scottish champions do not currently represent a well-oiled machine.

In what realistically represents a two-legged play-off for the Europa League spot, a backfiring Anderlecht stand in the way of Rodgers and European football after Christmas at Parkhead.

The Belgian champions are in crisis ahead of tomorrow night’s crucial Group B encounter at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium.

They sit a lowly seventh in the Jupiler League, nine points adrift of leaders Club Brugge. Swiss boss Rene Weiler paid the price for a dreadful start to the season when he was sacked last week.

In charge is the untried 36-year-old Argentine Nicolas Frutos (below), a former striker at the club, who has won his first two matches.

But he was criticised after an undeserved comeback victory at Waasland-Beveren on Saturday.

‘Anderlecht’s game really hurts the eyes,’ screamed the headline in popular Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

Dutchman Frank de Boer tops the club’s wishlist to replace Weiler. Frenchmen Claude Puel and Christophe Galtier and Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira are also contenders.

But Frutos has refused to accept he can’t land the job permanently and believes beating Celtic can land him the post he covets.

‘Waasland-Beveren at the weekend was my quarter-final, Celtic is my semi-final,’ he said. ‘It’s the third of four matches to prove myself.’

While Celtic were being thrashed by PSG, Anderlecht kicked off their Group B campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in Germany, although they did play 79 minutes with ten men.

But they look a poor imitation of the side that threatened to knock eventual winners Manchester United out of the Europa League last season. They reached the quarter-finals before succumbing to an extra-time winner from Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford.

The star of that European run was Belgium’s Young Player of the Year, Youri Tielemans. The midfielder also scored 13 goals to help Anderlecht to the title, but was snapped up by Monaco in the summer for £21million.

In his place came Sven Kums in a £6m deal from Watford. But Kums was sent off in Munich and is suspended tomorrow night.

Anderlecht are likely to be boosted by the return of firstchoice left-back Ivan Obradovic and, crucially, last season’s top scorer, Lukasz Teodorczyk.

But Polish international striker Teodorczyk has been out of sorts this season with just two goals in nine games and has been nursing a hamstring injury.

By contrast, last season, the 26-year-old scored 30 goals in 53 appearances and was a target for Liverpool in the summer.

At just 5ft 5in, Romanian Nicolae Stanciu is a nippy little operator in midfield. But perhaps the biggest talent in the team is captain Sofiane Hanni, who has the creativity to unlock Celtic’s defence.

He will look to create for Teodorczyk or Henry Onyekuru, the Nigerian striker who was joint top scorer in Belgium last season with modest side KAS Eupen.

The 20-year-old was on Celtic’s radar last term, but joined Everton for £7m and was subsequently loaned out to Anderlecht.

‘Onyekuru was a player who came to our attention and we watched him,’ Celtic boss Rodgers explained recently.

‘But the money was too much. He’s very dynamic, very quick. But we never made a bid.’

Whoever lines up for Anderlecht, the goal for Celtic is clear: to set up a mouth-watering return in Glasgow on December 5. Avoid defeat against the toiling Belgians in Brussels and Celtic will have a huge chance of reaching the Europa League against a side with just two wins in 34 games on the road in the Champions League.