Matt O’Riley will experience a twinge of envy when he settles down in front of the television in his home this week to watch the second legs of the remaining Champions League last 16 matches.
The Celtic playmaker loved being involved in the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition against RB Leipzig of Germany, Real Madrid of Spain and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine for the first time earlier this season.
The Danish Under-21 internationalist was devastated when the Scottish champions, despite performing well in all of their Group F outings and earning plaudits for their displays from their opponents, fans and commentators, failed to progress to the knockout rounds.
So seeing holders Real go head-to-head with Liverpool again at the Bernabeu, the iconic 80,000 capacity stadium which he graced back in November, for a place in the quarter-finals tomorrow evening will be difficult for him.
“I have probably had mixed emotions watching the Champions League since it resumed this year,” said O’Riley. “I have watched some of the games and I have been thinking ‘it would be good to be involved in that’.”
The 22-year-old, though, will take in every second that he can all the same.
He is determined to return to the Champions League next season and help Celtic, who are nine points clear at the top of the cinch Premiership table with 10 games remaining, to give an even better account of themselves and go through to the last 16 for the fourth time in their history.
The former Fulham and MK Dons man knows that studying superstars like Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, Jordan Henderson, Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo in action will be beneficial to his continuing development.
“As much as we performed well in my opinion, we were very disappointed in how we finished results-wise,” he said. “But we definitely learned a lot in terms of the ruthless side of it.
“It is definitely something I constantly think about. I really miss playing in those big games against the best players. I feel like it brings the best football out of you, makes you improve as well.
“But at the same time there is a lot to learn from these games because of the sides who are involved and the level they are playing at. I try to watch as many of the games as I can when they are on because there is a lot of things to learn and a lot of things to study.”
O’Riley has helped Celtic to recover from their mentally and physically challenging Champions League return in the past few months; he has featured regularly as the Parkhead club have increased their lead over nearest challengers Rangers in the Premiership, beaten their city rivals in the Viaplay Cup final and reached the Scottish Cup semi-final.
The midfielder believes that maintaining a high level of domestic performance will make it far easier for Ange Postecoglou’s team to excel if they return – and at the moment it is looking more than likely that they will - to the top level of continental competition next term.
“It is definitely about not being complacent,” he said as he looked back on a 3-0 win over Hearts in the cup quarter-final at Tynecastle on Saturday and ahead to the league encounter with on-form Hibs at Parkhead this weekend.
“I think that is a very important thing. It is about constantly setting your standards for yourselves. Even though people from the outside will think ‘how can they get much better?’.
“I think there is always little details we can improve on – especially if we want to compete in competitions like the Champions League next season.
“We are going to have to be as consistent as we can domestically so we can transition when we play that competition. Especially for all of us players who want to improve, the higher we can set the bar and really push those levels that should help us be in a good place.
“It is great winning games in Scotland, but it is not the same as playing against the very top players in Europe. But in saying that, if we can keep our level really high and try and dominate teams in Scotland then hopefully that will help our transition into the Champions League and competitions like that.”
O’Riley was upset when, despite playing for Celtic in all six of their Champions League group games, he was omitted from the Denmark squad for the World Cup finals in Qatar by manager Kasper Hjulmand in November.
The Euro 2020 semi-finalists, who topped a qualifying section that had included Scotland, flopped spectacularly in the Middle East. They failed to win a single game and finished bottom of their group.
Does the former England youth internationalist, who qualifies to play for the Scandinavian nation through his Danish mother, fancy his chances of being involved in his adopted homeland’s Euro 2024 campaign in the coming months?
Hjulmand still has a wealth of talent at his disposal for the Group H double headers against Finland, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland and San Marino. Still, he may decide to blood a few younger players in the coming months. O’Riley would certainly relish the opportunity to show that he can cope with the step up to international football.
“I would rather be called up than not be called up,” he said. “But at the same time it is not something that I am actually thinking about if I am being brutally honest. That kind of takes care of itself.
“If I perform well I know that eventually my time will come. I am not too fussed about that. But of course I would like to represent my country. That would be very cool.”
