Ange Postecoglou’s special Europa League challenge to Celtic stars

After losing their first two games of the Europa League group stage campaign against Real Betis and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, Celtic’s hopes of making it to the knockout phase seemed slim. They have managed to bring it back though with back-to-back wins against Ferencvaros. And it means that there will be European football for the Hoops beyond the group stage, whether it is in the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.

Ange Postecoglou does not appear to be satisfied with just that though and is looking to guide the Hoops into the Europa League knockout phase.

Of course, that will be a tough task, with an away game against Bayer Leverkusen and a home game against Real Betis to be played.

But Postecoglou is certainly planning to make a run for it. As reported by the Glasgow Times, the Celtic manager said that his side have the opportunity to create something special:

"“I want to get out of this group.“The win has given us a chance to progress and we are not going to discount that.“That’s two away fixtures we have scored three goals each. We just lost control of the game in Betis, but we’ve grown in belief since then and we’re now in a position we can push for second spot.“Why miss these opportunities? They don’t come around that often when you can create something special.“You can’t plan for it in two or three years’ time. The opportunity is here and now, so let’s go for it.”"

Celtic have a difficult Europa League challenge on their hands

It is safe to say that Celtic will have done very well if they do manage to make it to the knockout phase of the Europa League.

Bayer Leverkusen are a brilliant team and the Hoops might very well need to get a result away against them in the next matchday if they are to keep their hopes alive, depending upon the result of the Real Betis vs Ferencvaros game.

But at this point of time, the only thing that Celtic can do is make a run for it and hope for the best. At the end of the day, they were in one of the toughest groups in the competition and have given a good account of themselves till now, all things considered. Now, hopefully results will go their way over the final two games. Let’s see what the future holds.