Good luck to the Old Firm onthursday
Celtic and Rangers are once again carrying the hopes of Scottish football of getting into the group stages of European competition.
It would have been brilliant to see Aberdeen and Motherwell in the Europa League play-off games on Thursday night as well, but both were knocked out.
Going away to Sporting Lisbon was always going to be a big ask for Derek Mcinnes and his players.
The same applied to Stephen Robinson and the Steelmen for their tie at Hapoel Be’er Sheva. They gave it a decent go, but it wasn’t to be.
After the travelling involved and the cost of flights and hotels and transport, it would have been good for Aberdeen and Motherwell to have edged closer to a nice financial windfall from UEFA but they just couldn’t get over the line.
Neil Lennon’s players fought right to the very end to avoid extra-time and that would have been pleasing for the manager.
Riga defended for 90 minutes with 11 men behind the ball, before Mo Elyounoussi’s last-minute goal, and the Hoops had totally dominated proceedings.
They now face Sarajevo away from home, and they know the importance of it after the disappointment of losing out to Ferencvaros in the Champions League qualifier.
Again, these play-off games are about getting the job done and moving on.
It’s always nice to have a game wrapped up early and be in cruise control, but European ties don’t often allow that.
So it could be a nervy one for Celtic. Rangers played well and won 4-0 at Willem II. The score might have flattered them a wee bit, as Allan Mcgregor made some good saves.
But they got yet another superb result away from home, and now face Galatasaray at Ibrox.
Having home advantage doesn’t guarantee anything, but they will feel confident of securing the Group stages for the third season in a row.