00:00Across the city, Celtic have their own off-field issues to deal with, but ahead of another massive Europa League game, fans have been questioning the importance of the Europa League.
00:13Some feel, of course, it's not a competition that Celtic supporters at the start of the year were hoping that they would be in.
00:19But could the Europa League be a blessing in disguise for Brendan Rodgers' side?
00:25How times have changed, of course, as they prepare for their match against Braga at the time of recording.
00:35They started their league phase campaign with a valuable point out in Belgrade against Red Star in arguably one of European football's most hostile atmospheres earlier this month.
00:49That was a solid start, but this is a game against Braga that won't sell out.
00:56It's a competition, of course, that many, as I mentioned, didn't want to be in.
01:01It's, of course, Celtic are currently not scoring the same amount of goals as they have done in previous years.
01:07But barring that, you know, Brendan Rodgers has been relatively pleased with their start to the season, despite the kind of simmering discontent among a sizable chunk of the fan base.
01:19That's unlikely to ease any time soon, of course, in the back of a hugely underwhelming transfer window.
01:26And, of course, it's the Champions League anthem they'd rather be hearing rather than the Europa League one.
01:32But, you know, it's a competition that Celtic must take seriously.
01:37At the end of the day, this is an opportunity whereby they're in a competition that isn't full of European world beaters, if you like.
01:46There's no Real Madrid, PSG, Barcelona in this competition.
01:51This is a real opportunity that Celtic might sense they can get quite far in having failed to kind of seriously go too far in the Europa League in previous years.
02:03But I'm sure supporters had envisaged a run the type of one that Rangers went on en route to the 2022 Europa League final.
02:12I'm sure as they progress throughout the competition and if they do make it through the league phase,
02:20then certainly supporters will start returning in their droves and make Celtic Park that special occasion that we all know it can be on European nights.
02:30Certainly there's a feeling that the kind of short-term pain of missing out on the Champions League could bring longer-term gain for the hoops.
02:39I guess you just have to take a look at some of the Champions League results so far with the likes of Madrid.
02:43As I mentioned, smashing five past Celtics conquerors, Kairat Almaty, who were also pummeled in their first game as well of the competition at Atletico Madrid.
02:55They also took five goals off recent Europa League winners, Eintracht Frankfurt.
02:59So Celtic are certainly in a competition where they'll feel that they're against a level of opposition that they're more than a match for.
03:08And as I said, didn't look out of place in their opening fixture out in the Serbian capital last week.
03:15They created enough chances in that match to win and will certainly take plenty of confidence from a solid point gained on their travels.
03:24Braga, well, there'll be another kind of decent test, but they're no world beaters and they're struggling for form at this moment in time.
03:35But it's certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that Celtic could put together a deep run in this tournament if a couple of key players can maybe nurse their way back to full fitness.
03:45Like it's Alistair Johnson still to return from injury.
03:49So while the Europa League won't be the music to anyone's ears inside the stadium this evening, it's still a competition that Celtic will hope to go far in going forward.
04:03And there's a real possibility that they can put a real stamp and advance to the latter stages of Europe's second tier competition.
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