Following last night’s defeat to CFR Cluj, Celtic’s Champions League hopes have ended in the qualifying rounds once more and instead the Hoops are headed for the Europa League play-offs.
As tweeted by @CelticBible, Neil Lennon’s side will need to get past either AIK Solna or Sheriff Tiraspol if they are to reach the group stages of the Europa League, with Sweden’s AIK holding a 2-1 first leg lead over their Moldovan opponents.
https://twitter.com/CelticBible/status/1161408033450266635
This is the second year in a row that Celtic have transferred into the Europa League play-offs after falling in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, where they were beaten by AEK Athens 12 months ago.
The Hoops recovered from that setback to defeat Lithuanian club Suduva to reach the group stage, from which they ultimately qualified before losing to Valencia in the round of 32 last February.
Having already contested six matches in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, Celtic will have played 14 European games before Christmas if they get past the Europa League play-offs.
The prospect of meeting AIK or Sheriff in the play-off round of Europe’s secondary club competition is not one that fills these Celtic fans with much enthusiasm:
Fans should boycott this game.
— Shaun (@TheTweetofShaun) August 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/PoorThings1992/status/1161539929622687744
https://twitter.com/davidm191212/status/1161572279521894401
Lennon sticks by Cal Mac at LB, we go out. This will age well.
— Gbhoy (@GbhoyDownUnder) August 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/kjbohan/status/1161409119347183617
AIK better than cluj..
— JakeBrown (@jakebrown_1994) August 13, 2019
