Celtic Champions League Draw: No’ bad.

All honest Celtic fans will admit it, after the teams from Pots 1 & 2 had been drawn in Monaco earlier today, heartbeats were fairly racing at the prospect of being lumped in with Real Madrid (who many had earlier expressed a desire to meet), Juventus and the possibility of Dynamo Kiev or old adversaries Shakhtar Donetsk making up a fearsome Group of Death. Alarm bells were also ringing about the prospect of Groups A & F where the heavyweight pairs of Chelsea and Roma or Lyon and Bayern lay in wait. As Celtic’s fellow Pot 3 teams were slowly distributed the options narrowed, and for many the most appealing destination seemed to be Group D where Liverpool and PSV lurked, appealing that is based on last night’s abject Liverpool performance.

And then it was, Manchester United and Villareal. General consensus? Aye, that’ll do, no’ bad. So then to the Pot 4 dangers. The top 4 ranked teams in Pot 4 were all to be avoided if possible; Donetsk, Spartak Moscow-thrashing Dynamo Kiev, Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid are nobody’s mugs. The adventurous were perhaps hoping for CL newboys Bate Borisov of Belarus but out came Danish champions Aalborg. General consensus? Aye, that’ll do, no’ bad. A sair yin oan the pocket mind ye.

It says much about the progress of Glasgow Celtic under Gordon Strachan that whilst across the city Rangers are busy serving their own self-imposed travel ban some Celtic fans will be disappointed that the glamour team in the group is ‘only’ Manchester United, the tournament’s current holders. Those fans will travel to Old Trafford with genuine hope though, recalling that the last time the two teams met in the Champions League Celtic performed admirably, and would have won through had it been a two-leg Uefa Cup tie. Villareal have already ended a European campaign for Celtic recently and having finished above Barcelona in the Primera Liga last season will present a real challenge for the Bhoys, but again, general consensus? Beatable, definitely. As for Aalborg, many fans will already be predicting Celtic’s first CL away win in northern Denmark come late November. Those same fans though should remember the 3-0 mauling by FC Copenhagen in the same season where the Naka-inspired Celtic overcame the current holders.

Can Celtic qualify for the last 16 of football’s premier competition after today’s draw then? The hooped faithful knew the answer to that even afore the first team had been drawn. Nae bother. The most pertinent question on the lips of supporters now is; will a certain Mr H Larsson be rejoining to be there when they do.