Quincy Charles
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has challenged his players to take advantage of their Europa Conference League opportunity if they want to reach the final.
The Hoops kick off their campaign in Uefa’s tertiary tournament this evening when they host Norwegian champs Bodo/Glimt at Parkhead for the opening leg of their play-off round showdown.
Postecoglou, on the other hand, has his sights set farther down the road, believing that the Celts have a chance to win a European title in the tournament’s maiden season.
The likes of Roma, Marseille, and Leicester City are still in the competition, but the Australian coach is only concerned with the task at hand, which is Bodo tonight.
He said: “What’s the point of rolling up on Thursday night if you don’t think you can win something?
“You play in these things to try and have success.
“Why miss the opportunity if the opportunity is before you?
“If we don’t succeed, then we dust ourselves off and go again next year.
“But you don’t enter something to just participate and potentially miss an opportunity to create something.
“For me, it’s about constantly exposing our players to this level and playing our football.
“You saw it during our (Europa League) group stage. We ended up winning three games in a tough group.
“It’s not like we struggled, even though we didn’t get through.
“We saw improvement there. We are in a different competition now, but you look at the calibre of teams left and there are still some fantastic clubs represented.
“We have a big challenge facing Bodo. It’s European competition, there are fantastic teams in there and you know what European nights can be like at Celtic Park.
“It’s a chance to test ourselves again, measure ourselves and I’m excited about it.”
