Celtic's Europa League Opponents
A first look at the range of opponents Celtic will face over eight league stage matches.
The draw for the Europa League league stage has been completed today.
Celtic faces four home and four away ties. The order and dates of those ties will be decided by Sunday, but mainly the matches will be on Thursday’s necessitating several league matches moving to Sunday.
Here are some pen pics of ourselves and the opponents.
Celtic FC - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
AS Roma - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
Feyenoord Rotterdam - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
SC Braga - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
SK Sturm Graz - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
FC Midtjylland - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
Red Star Belgrade - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
FC Utrecht - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
Bologna FC 1909 - Transfers 25/26 | Transfermarkt
More detailed tactical and team style analysis will be available before each match.
Here are the comparisons based on the ELO club rankings.
It seems a fair draw, but with no absolute monster and no really easy games either. Every game should be competitive.
What do we think of the draw? Let us know in the comments.
I haven't really got my head round ELO and a quick check with chatGPT wasn't especially helpful. Given the relative ELO ratings of the teams in the group, is the graphic something which could be taken as a n indicator of where teams are likely to finish in the league, or is it more of a "this is what their recent form tells us about them" kind of thing. Or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?
I think that's a fair draw - about as good as you would hope for in a European context. You would like to think that we would be competitive in those games (notwithstanding all our woes at the moment) assuming, and it's a big 'If' the board invest in the squad. If we get Dolberg I think that could be a big plus - Balikwisha is in the door - looks functional on the 'eye test' watching him on Youtube. If we get another reasonably efficient wide player then I think at that point we might just be competitive barring injuries. However you will note in my response above the word 'If' is used a lot as I have no idea what this board is willing to spend and how far they will go - and clearly Brendan doesn't either according to his press conferences. Thanks for putting the above together Alan - very informative.