No more excuses, Celtic need to get a result in Belgrade

Tomorrow evening sees the start of Celtic’s Europa League campaign as Brendan Rodgers’ side takes on Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian capital in the first of eight fixtures in Europe’s secondary competition for both sides.

We couldn’t have asked for a tougher start, as Red Star are a decent well drilled side who boast plenty of European pedigree, and will provide a stern test on home soil. Like Celtic they were in the Champions League last season and also like Celtic they failed to get past a so-called minnow in this season’s Champions League play-offs.

Both sides will have reflected on those painful defeats to Kairat and Pafos, two names that you most certainly don’t regard as being Champions League participates. Yet both found a way past Celtic and Red Star Belgrade and that’s why both are linking their wounds in the Europa League and essentially looking for atonement.

Celtic’s away record in European competition isn’t exactly impressive, but we can’t go into the game dwelling on it, as defeat is certainly not an option. Not after Kairat.

The Celtic players need to start our Europa League campaign on a positive note, and whilst a draw wouldn’t be the worst outcome, we should be aiming for all three points.

It’s certainly not out of our reach as defensively we are looking a lot more secure than in previous years at this level, and in an attacking sense we’ve improved in the last few weeks due to the signings of Sebastian Tounekti and Kelechi Iheanacho, who have both given us a much needed extra dimension up top.

It’s well within Celtic’s capabilities to win, no doubts about it. If we have any aspirations of accumulating a good run in this competition, we need to start our campaign on a high, and that means getting a positive result in Belgrade.

No more excuses.