Ange Postecoglou has hit out at critics looking to drag Celtic into the inquest into Scottish football’s Euro week from Hell.
The national game has been severely wounded after a nightmare few days where Celtic, Rangers and Hearts were thumped 14-2 on aggregate by RB Leipzig, Liverpool and Fiorentina in the Champions League and Europa Conference League. The Hoops crashed to a 2-0 defeat to the Germans and Rangers were lashed 7-1 by Liverpool as the Old Firm’s last 16 hopes were crushed, while the Jambos need a miracle to qualify after their 5-1 chasing in Italy.
Postecoglou refused to point the finger at his SPFL rivals – but he is ready to fight his corner against anyone who suggests his men can’t cut it against the cream of the continent. The Parkhead gaffer insisted his men held their own for long spells against Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Leipzig – and it’s only small margins that have prevented them from making a real impact at the top table.
Postecoglou said: “I don’t understand the narrative of what people are trying to portray in terms of somehow Scotland doesn’t deserve to have teams competing at this level. There are plenty of countries who struggle to produce consistent results at this level because it is the highest level of club football.
“I can only talk about our club and if someone can show me evidence that we have not deserved our place or in any of the games have looked out of place against quality opposition then I would really like to see it, because no-one has mentioned that to me.
“I can only talk for my club but if anyone can tell me that from the four games we’ve played that we don’t deserve to be there, or that we’ve been outplayed or looked out of place, then I reckon they’re talking from an agenda or some sort of bias.
“What I have been questioned on after games is our missed opportunities and that is definitely an area that we do need to improve on. That is definitely an area that we know if we are to make an impact that we need to get better at.
“But if people have watched our games from an objective perspective then they should see that in all of our games we have more than matched the opposition that are fairly significant in world football. If not then I don’t know what they have been watching.”
Postecoglou insisted he’d rather be in at the deep end in the Champions League than on the outside looking in. He said: “As opposed to just not being involved at all? So what you’re saying is that we play domestic competition and just ignore everything else? I get your question and I understand, living here for 18 months now I’ve seen the Scottish national team go from heroes to no-hopers to heroes again.
“So I get this whole boom-bust cycle, and getting to here and the whole ‘woe is me’. We’re not the only country that struggles to get results at Champions League level.
"The questions I’ve had after each of our games is about opportunities missed. The ‘opportunities missed’ suggests that we’ve got to improve some areas for sure, but doesn’t say that we somehow don’t belong in a competition that we’ve earned the right to be in.”
Postecoglou wants a sharp response against Hibs today – but he will still be without injured Jota, along with David Turnbull and Stephen Welsh, and long-term absentees Callum McGregor and Carl Starfelt. The boss said: “Jota is getting closer but we want to make sure that he is 100 per cent. He should start training next week with us but he is out for today’s game.”
McGregor will be out until after the World Cup break while Starfeld is also several weeks away. Postecoglou said: “Last year there seemed to be a lot of muscle injuries, this year seems to be collision injuries like Carl’s and Callum’s. Like everyone else, we just have to deal with it.
“All clubs seem to have had some significant injuries because there is no real time to recover between games. I guess that is a real challenge to all the clubs who are involved because in normal seasons you get a little bit of time to recover between games.
“The Champions League does take out a bit more out of you than league games. Our physical output and the numbers we churn out in the tournament are consistently high. If you don’t get that time to recover then you run the risk of injuries.”
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