After the trophyless 2020/21 season, one might think that Celtic would be hoping to win any silverware at all this time around. But that does not look like the way that the players see it. The League Cup semi-final win over St Johnstone hands Ange Postecoglou a huge chance to win his first trophy in Scotland, when the Hoops meet Hibernian at Hampden Park next month in the final.
That applies to several of the players as well. The hunger to win silverware will be there not just in those who joined the club this season, but also those who were involved last season as well.
They will definitely want to get back to the winning ways that delivered all 12 trophies over the four seasons before 2020/21. An incredible feat that might never be repeated.
And it appears that they want to win everything available, but are also taking one game at a time. As reported by the Daily Record, Anthony Ralston said:
"“We are a club that wants to win everything that we are involved in and that will definitely be our aim.“But we will put it to the back of our heads for a minute and focus on the games coming up.“When that game comes, we will look to add another trophy to the many we have won before.”"
Ralston makes big claim after Celtic reach League Cup final
While Celtic will have the chance to lift the first trophy of the season next month when they take on Hibernian, that game is quite some time away.
Next up of course is a difficult away game in the Europa League against Bayer Leverkusen, but the win at the weekend coming after the international break should be a great boost to the Hoops’ confidence. Can they get a result in Germany?
A win or even a draw would be huge. But if they lose and Real Betis beat Ferencvaros in the other game, then their hopes of making it to the knockout phase of the competition will be over.
They can perhaps be slightly more relaxed given the back to back wins against Ferencvaros at least will give them European football to play beyond the group stage, although it may be in the Europa Conference League.
Bayer Leverkusen aren’t in their best form currently and have struggled in some recent matches, mostly due to their huge number of injury problems. Now, it remains to be seen if Celtic can climb a mountain in midweek and get a result against the Bundesliga giants.