Gary Lineker makes bold Champions League claim about Celtic

Celtic have had an interesting Champions League campaign so far. They won their opener convincingly, 5-1 against Slovan Bratislava. Then they lost 7-1 against Borussia Dortmund. And that was followed by a commendable away draw in Bergamo vs Atalanta. That leaves the Hoops with four points from their first three games. Just for context, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig sit below them in the table right now.

Of course, it is clear to see that there is room for improvement. But at the same time, the performance against Atalanta gives hope that Celtic can keep up with the high-profile teams.

That leaves them with having to win their games in hand. On paper, there are three of those remaining on their fixture. The other two are tough games against high-flying Aston Villa and Bundesliga contenders RB Leipzig.

Celtic appear to have caught the eye of an English legend though. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, while reviewing the progress of some of the Champions League's surprise packages, Gary Lineker said:

"Celtic, in a weird way, considering they actually got battered in one game, seven, they’ve got four points from the other two games, which gives them a chance of being in that, probably realistically, in the middle block."

Gary Lineker makes bold Champions League claim about Celtic

Realistically, finishing in one of the playoff spots has to be the target for Celtic. It is hard to imagine that they will be able to get direct qualification to the knockout phase.

One could argue that getting into the playoff spots has to be the minimum requirement for Celtic as well, considering the fixture list that they were handed. And one cannot deny that the luck of the draw was on their side this time around, for a change.

Now, it remains to be seen how the rest of their campaign goes in Europe. Of course, we have talked about the 'winnable' games but nothing is for certain at this level. It is also possible that the Hoops could lose all three of those matches. They cannot take anything for granted.