On a night when Celtic Park dazzled at kick-off, its famous sights and sounds building an exuberant, raucous Champions League atmosphere, at the end there was a muted response for the home team as a tired lap of appreciation was slogged through. Draws can do that, sap energy.
When both sets of players reached the Parkhead tunnel, however, there was greater volume and as Celtic fans eased themselves back from the disappointment accompanying them into the cold Glasgow darkness, they may have come to view this as a bright point, another step on the road to that sought-after mid-table spot in the new Champions League format.
They may also see it as another foot forward in the journey back from Borussia Dortmund. That 7-1 thumping eight weeks ago threatened to demoralise the club so much Celtic might have begun lobbying for the return of the old Champions League group stage.
Manager Brendan Rodgers described Dortmund as being like “an assault on your spirit”. Yet from there Celtic have gone to Atalanta and drawn 0-0, then beaten Leipzig having been a goal down. Now, coming from behind again, this was a 1-1 draw against a Club Brugge team who showed why they were capable of beating Aston Villa in their previous match. Christos Tzolis is a player.
There are, inevitably, limits to Celtic given their domestic environment, but resilience and talent are evident. And renewed spirit.
The result leaves them 20th and Club Brugge 22nd, which in a normal league would not be cause for applause. But this 36-club division is creating new perspectives. As Rodgers said last night, in the traditional format Celtic would have been “a pot four team” and as such would have had three superior opponents, two of whom were almost assured of progress. Celtic could have been out by the fifth game, as they were on this date last season.
This is different. The Club Brugge coach Nicky Hayen said the new setup is “unpredictable” and the better for it. “Sporting Lisbon won against Manchester City at home and lost against Arsenal,” he added. “It’s unpredictable, which is what I really like. (In the old format) you had more top teams in your group and you knew you had six difficult games. Now also, but it’s one game, it’s not home and away. It gives you a little bit more of a chance.”
Whether it turns out to be truly different when the eight league games are completed remains to be seen, but Rodgers concurred with Hayen: “That’s the idea of it, to open it up.
“In my time here we’ve been a pot four team playing against top sides. Especially in this modern era, that can be a real challenge. But we saw tonight a really good game. Both teams still have a chance. So from our perspective, it’s great from a number of aspects and opportunity is one of them.”
It is a theme we may hear more about — a new middle class, clubs of equivalent means competing more often against each other. It is one a predecessor of Rodgers at Celtic, Neil Lennon, spoke to The Athletic about.
“It’s given the clubs from the ‘lesser’ leagues an opportunity to get into that middle bracket and fight for a play-off in the last 16,” Lennon said. “It’s really good to watch as you see the league table change.
“For a long time, eastern European countries and clubs from smaller leagues wanted a shot at it and this format brings that. Sometimes you get fortunate with the draw and Celtic’s draw has given them a chance. Dinamo Zagreb away, Young Boys at home to come, they’re winnable. The top eight might be too far away, but to get into that middle bracket and a play-off, that’s still success, 100 per cent.”
Daizen Maeda after scoring Celtic’s equaliser (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
The 36 clubs divide into a top eight who qualify automatically and two middle eights — seeded and unseeded — who enter a knockout, plus a bottom 12 who exit the competition in January. The estimate was that 10 points would seal a place in the lower middle class and for clubs of Celtic and Club Brugge’s domestic backgrounds, they would take that.
Hayen pointed out Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are below his side and these are not details to be glossed over as temporary. For these clubs, it is another sign, however brief, that gradually they can get there.
As Club Brugge’s impressive No 9 Ferran Jutgla said: “To defeat Aston Villa was important for our team. It proved Brugge aren’t just guests in the Champions League.”
Rodgers and various players at Celtic have made similar comments about “belonging” in this company.
“We deserve to be here in the competition,” he said before the game at Atalanta. “It’s always important to install that belief in the players.”
Lennon said that, should Celtic progress, the 0-0 draw in Atalanta could be a landmark result in Celtic’s European season, not just Dortmund, and although he called the latter “sobering” for Celtic, he added: “I wouldn’t say it brought them so down to earth that there had to be a reset, but they had to analyse the goals, the way they were conceded, the manner of the performance.
“And they’ve rejuvenated themselves.”
There were dismayed Celtic fans who felt otherwise as Club Brugge looked like the home side in a dominant first half from the Belgians. Celtic were continually forced backwards, which led to a Cameron Carter-Vickers own goal. “A wasted 45 minutes,” Rodgers called the first half and there were plenty in the stands who disagreeably agreed with him.
That is not the start Celtic were hoping for 🙈
Carter-Vickers’ mistake gifts Brugge the lead 😬
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/AwI6R9o56Q
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 27, 2024
The second half was better for Celtic. Daizen Maeda’s equaliser was a piece of individualism rather than a consequence of an attacking pattern but the draw left Rodgers satisfied.
If not a full remontada, once again his players had come back with spirit and he reiterated: “We have to fight at this level.
“We’re one of those teams really pushing to make a mark. We’ve come back, scored a goal, played with courage. You want to win, but I’ve been here enough times to know you can lose a game like that.
“This is what building confidence at this level is about. You won’t always be able to build the perfect game. You have to be able to adapt. When it’s not quite right, can you dig yourself out?”
Next is a trip to Dinamo Zagreb, who lost 3-0 at home to Dortmund on Wednesday, but who have the same points as Club Brugge and hopes of their own. Dinamo, too, are still among the spread of contenders.
“Some clubs will tell you there’s not (a benefit),” Rodgers said of the format five games in, “but for me having the eight games, playing different opponents, different levels, I’ve really enjoyed it.
“And these next three games, we’re getting to the really exciting bit.”
A view from Celtic Park and Europe’s middle-class hopefuls.
(Top photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
