Away from league business for a bit, Celtic got an unexpected shout-out after Arsenal and Man City were knocked out of the Champions League last night.
Man City got knocked out on penalties by Real Madrid after drawing 1-1 at the Etihad. Drawing 4-4 on aggregate, Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic missed two spot kicks to send the Galacticos into the semi-finals.
They were joined and will face, Bayern Munich who put out Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate after a Joshua Kimmich header put the Germans through to last four with a 3-2 aggregate win over the north London side.
So it’s surprising that in a competition that has nothing to do with Celtic, we still manage to be the name of some of the top pundit’s lips.
Collymore’s superb ‘really big club’ Celtic comment
The Champions League has turned into a type of cartel where only the richest clubs in the world have any hope of winning the tournament.
Not since Porto won it in 2004 has a team outside of the top five leagues in Europe appeared in a final, never mind winning it.
Which makes Collymore’s social media shout-out to Celtic a bit more prominent:
Money is king in this tournament, nothing else. The days of clubs like Celtic, Reims, Panathinaikos, St Ettiene and Malmo progressing to the latter stages of the tournament are long gone.
Which is a shame really. Some of the greatest moments in European football have been created by clubs outside the big five.
Ajax used to be a powerhouse in Europe and won the Big Cup three years in a row. Steaua Bucharest used to have an incredible side in the eighties as did Partizan Belgrade in the early nineties.
Since 2011, every Champions League barring 2020 has been won by either a Spanish or English side. Leagues where money is king.
Money doesn’t make you a big club, history does. And Celtic is up there as a club with one of the best histories in the game.