Celtic fans are still celebrating their incredible treble-treble, but the focus will soon turn towards next season and qualifying for Europe over the summer. The draw for the first qualifying round is on June 18th and the Bhoys will be desperate to avoid their fat from last season when they fell to AEK Athens in the 3rd round qualifier.
The Bhoys were held to a 1-1 draw at Parkhead in their first clash with their Greek opposition before losing 2-1 away on the continent to put themselves into the Europa League instead of the Champions League. AEK Athens went on to get battered by Bayern Munich, Ajax and Benfica, losing all six games, so you could argue Celtic avoided a worse fate than what they got.
However, the Champions League is the dream for the Hoops, and even if they find themselves stuck in a group of death and get played off the park six times out of six and fail to even finish 3rd and drop into the Europa League, the top table is the aim. This summer will be no different, but they will have to avoid falling to a similar fate that they did last season.
You can see what the Bhoys had to say upon losing to AEK here:
The Bhoys are desperate to avoid last summer’s fate this time around and will hope that they can finally make their return to Europe’s top footballing table.
Celtic fans, do you think you’ll make it to the Champions League group stages this season? Let us know!
