Pundit Paddy Kenny has been giving his thoughts to Celtic’s 3-1 defeat to Bodo/Glimt, Football Insider report.
The Lowdown: First defeat of 2022
Celtic were left stunned at Parkhead in the first leg of their Europa League Conference tie on Thursday, with the Norwegian champions handing Ange Postecoglou’s side a first defeat of 2022.
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The visitors are yet to begin their season but scored early in each half to put the Hoops on the back foot.
Daizen Maeda pulled one back late on, however, a deflected effort from Hugo Vetlesen regained a two-goal lead for Bodo/Glimt going into Thursday’s second leg.
The Latest: Kenny’s comments
Kenny was giving his thoughts to Football Insider after the defeat, suggesting Celtic won’t be ‘too upset’ if they fail to progress in the second leg and he’s ‘convinced’ the Hoops actually ‘want out’ of the competition.
“I don’t imagine they will be too upset if they go out.
“I get that but winning games breeds confidence. This is a team who hadn’t played for weeks and they have rocked up to Celtic and won.
“Celtic won’t be happy with that, they will be going to Norway to win, in minus 3000 degrees probably.
“It will be difficult for them because this side has shown they do have quality but we have seen Celtic play some excellent football this season.
“It’s the conference league as well, not even the Europa League, I’m convinced they probably want out of it.
“I didn’t see this coming so Celtic will probably still go into next week as favourites.
“But, as I say, going out isn’t the end of the world for them.”
The Verdict: Strange
Celtic’s main focus may well be on lifting the Scottish Premiership in May, however, you’d imagine all associated with the Hoops would be extremely upset if they failed to overturn a two-goal deficit in Norway, so suggesting otherwise seems strange.
As Kieran Devlin mentioned prior to kick-off, Celtic haven’t won a European knock-out tie after Christmas since 2004, so doing so would be a great achievement in Postecoglou’s first season.
Yes, it is only in the Europa Conference League and not the Champions League or Europa League, but Celtic now have a big enough squad to rotate in both domestic and European competitions, so we’re sure they’ll be doing everything they can to progress in Norway.
In other news: Celtic source – Ange gives green light to out-of-window exit for ‘arrogant’ ace after talks.