Celtic are in action in the Europa League this week, but under new management.
Well, sort of.
The Hoops now have an interim boss on the door in the form of Martin O’Neill, who has turned back the clock in the Parkhead dugout in recent weeks.
O’Neill’s statistics as Celtic manager over the years have shown the Irishman to be a serial winner.
But not yet with the current team in Lennoxtown, who have not exactly started the season in the best form.
In the Scottish Premiership, the Hoops are nine points behind leaders Hearts domestically, while the Bhoys in green and white are a distant second.
Celtic record in Europe and why Midtjylland can be assured of victory
Former boss Brendan Rodgers resigned and shocked the country with the decision, but left them in a bit of a pickle, allowing O’Neill to steady the ship.
This week won’t be easy for O’Neill and fellow coach Shaun Maloney either, with Europa League leaders Midtjylland next on the schedule.
The Danish club has exceeded their own expectations and achieved great results in big matches.
They certainly won’t be pushovers as the data actually points towards a home win.
FootballBlog take a look…
Celtic euro shape
It’s not just domestically where Celtic have toiled so far this term.
Rodgers faced off-field issues and that seemed to follow the players onto the field. There were fan threats of a protest before the match against Braga on the penultimate matchday.
Celtic lost that game 2-0 at home in front of their own crowd and that followed the opening stalemate in Serbia with a goalless draw against Crvena Zvezda.
It left Celts languishing at the bottom of the league stage and their next tie didn’t start well either as a stunning strike from Sturm Graz’s Tomi Horvat put his side ahead in Glasgow.
Celtic would turn the match on its head by winning 2-1 and putting themselves off target with a win, but it wasn’t exactly the comprehensive win they wanted before the match.
The Scottish giants now sit 21st – inside the play-off spots – with four points.
Midtjylland run and results
Mike Tullberg’s side are in the middle of a strong season, which bodes well for them when Celtic arrive at the MCH Arena on Thursday evening.
They are, perhaps unexpectedly, top of the Europa League table with nine points and three wins from their three opening games.
Not only did they get maximum points at the European Championship, they also performed well in all those matches, finding the net eight times, conceding just two goals.
Wins over Sturm Graz, Nottingham Forest and Maccabi Tel Aviv have taken them to great heights and their top performers continue to give their best.
Franculino in particular has shone and will be Celtic’s main danger man as he has already found the net 17 times in all competitions with two goals in their three European Championship games against Tel Aviv.
In the Superliga in their home country, FCM are also second after fourteen games and eight wins in that time frame.
They are on 29 points – two behind leaders AGF – but it is a closely contested division at the moment with Brondby and Copenhagen also close.
Martin O’Neill’s European record
O’Neill had an incredibly strong squad during his time at Celtic, including Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, Paul Lambert and John Hartson.
And yet, inexplicably, they never made it out of the Champions League group stages.
Six wins from 18 in the elite competition and nine defeats – adding three draws – were not a bad return considering the world-class opponents they have faced over the years.
The Celts defeated big names like Barcelona, Juventus and Lyon during that time, while also keeping Bayern Munich and AC Milan close during the time when they had truly iconic sides.
In the UEFA Cup, O’Neill led his team to the 2003 final, but were defeated 3–2 in extra time by Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto in Seville.
Before 2009 in the UEFA Cup, O’Neill won 11 of the 25 matches he played, drawing five and losing nine.
It’s safe to say that his record in Europe so far is excellent.
Celtic historical European record
As a club, as a whole… not that good.
Especially away from home, Celtic’s European record must historically be one of the worst on the continent.
In the Champions League, they have played a total of 118 games since 2000, both home and away, and have only won 42 in total.
In the Europa League – formerly the UEFA Cup – they have achieved 38 wins from a total of 91 matches.
In almost fifteen years of football, these statistics are quite damning and that’s under nine different managerial terms (including O’Neill, Rodgers and Lennon, all separate periods).
#Celtic #beat #highflying #Midtjylland #Statistics #dont #good