Thierry Henry makes bold Celtic claim live on air

A lot of eyes were on Celtic as they kicked off their Champions League campaign at home against Slovan Bratislava. In what has been a rare occurrence in recent years, the Hoops entered the game as favourites. And Brendan Rodgers' side ended up justifying that tag by scoring 5 goals past their Slovakian opponents and getting a 5-1 win to put themselves in a great position.

Two decades ago, Vladimir Weiss had been the manager of the FC Artmedia team that had defeated Celtic by a 5-0 scoreline. It was nice to hand the now Slovan Bratislava boss a return gift on his trip to Glasgow. His son, who captained the visitors on the night, had also spent time on loan at Ibrox and won a double with the Rangers.

Overall, it was a positive evening for Celtic. And after a long, long time, there seems to be genuine hope amongst the fans that the Hoops can make it past the first round of the Champions League.

Many have complained about the increased schedule of the Champions League moving forward. But Celtic must be quite happy with the new format. A lot of that might be down to the relatively easy draw that they were handed though.

Thierry Henry makes bold Celtic claim live on air

As reported by 67 Hail Hail, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry told CBS Sports on Paramount+:

"The draw is great (for Celtic). I don’t know if they would have liked the format (if the draw wasn’t favourable)."

Henry went on to add further regarding his thoughts on Celtic's draw:

"Look at who they are playing. You are playing at Dortmund, at Atalanta, you have Brugge and Leipzig at home. I am not saying Dinamo will be easy. Young Boys. But you don’t have big, big games, apart from Dortmund who went to the final."

To be honest, it is hard to exactly disagree with Henry. The reaction of Celtic fans to the new format probably would have been a lot different if they were handed games against some of the biggest teams in Europe.

That being said, luck is a part of football. In previous seasons, Celtic have been unlucky to be handed tough draws. This time, things worked out in their favour for a change.