Defiant Ange Postecoglou insists there is no glass ceiling for his Celtic side in Europe.
The Australian takes on Shakhtar Donetsk in Glasgow on Tuesday night looking to chalk up a first Group F win - a result which would then fire Scotland’s champions into contention for a place in the knock-out stages of the Europa League. And Postecoglou insists the sky could be the limit for his players if they can extend their European campaign.
He said: “You talk about glass ceilings, well what are the chances of an Australian coach managing in the Champions League? I’ve broken through so many glass ceilings that I know that they don’t really exist - they only exist in your own ambitions - whether that is Europa League or Champions League.
“My thing is to say that if a football club of our size goes out there and plays football that everyone talks about, irrespective of the opposition, wouldn’t that be a great thing? A club like Celtic is playing the biggest clubs in the world and people are talking about how we are playing, I think there is something in that.
“With that, you obviously want success and you want to win games of football, but I think there is great merit in doing things that people don’t expect you to do. And why not for Scottish clubs? Why not for us? I see no reason why we can’t do it.”
And Postecoglou also shook off any suggestion that Celtic’s defence of the demotic title could be undermined by a heavy European schedule. He said: “I think we are coping all right now. We are backing up, playing every three or four days, and we have only lost one game in the league.
“And the rest of the games have been a very good level of performance. We have won our cup games. So I still think it is the better way to go. I don’t think there is an easier or more certain route. But what you do have to have is a strong squad. And we worked very hard in the off season to get a strong squad and I think that has certainly helped us.
“From a cohesion perspective, it is a little bit disruptive when I am making five or six changes a game. But it means we are competitive in every game - and we certainly want to be in Europe and competing in both cup competitions and the league.”
Postecoglou has added David Turnbull to his squad for tonight’s tie but will have to do without Carl Starfelt and Jota - both of whom should be back for Sunday’s top flight trip to Livingston. And he insists his players will go for the jugular as they attempt to climb off the bottom of their Champions League group.
He said: “It doesn’t because that’s what we try and do every game. We try to win. But we know tomorrow, if we want to stay in Europe, we need to get the three points.
“The beauty of it is we don’t have to change our approach – we try to do that in every game we play, home or away. Obviously, we haven’t been successful in that in this competition.
“But tomorrow’s another opportunity to test ourselves, to test our football against a good footballing team. Let’s see how we go.”
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