Is money or belief more important in today's game?
What better example than the fact that Celtic managed to
qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, when numerous “bigger clubs”
failed.
I cite the infamous ITV tweet, where moments after the draw
for the group stages was made, they posted a tweet that diminished Celtic’s
chances of qualifying before a ball had been kicked. How they would live to
regret those words.
Celtic qualified for the group stages along with fellow
British clubs Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Despite Manchester City getting a tough group which included
Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Real Madrid, you would have expected them, with
their transfer budget allocation, to qualify.
What about Chelsea?
The current holders were given a slightly simpler group.
They had to face Celtic’s last 16 opponents Juventus, Ukrainian champions
Shakhtar Donetsk and relatively unheard of, Nordsjælland.