Celtic are in Europa League action this week but under new management.
Well, sort of.
The Hoops now have an interim boss in the door in the form of Martin O’Neill who has wound the clocks back over the past number of weeks back in the dugout at Parkhead.
O’Neill’s stats as Celtic gaffer over the years have shown the Irishman to be a serial winner.
But not yet with the current squad at Lennoxtown who have not exactly started the season in the best of form.
The Scottish Premiership sees the Hoops as far back as nine points behind league leaders Hearts domestically with the Bhoys in green and white a distant second.
Celtic record in Europe and why Midtjylland can be confident of win
Former boss Brendan Rodgers resigned and shocked the country with the decision but left them in a bit of a pickle which has had O’Neill steadying the ship.
This week will not be easy for O’Neill and fellow coach Shaun Maloney, either, with Europa League leaders Midtjylland next up on the fixture schedule.
The Danish club are outperforming their own expectations and have had big results in big games.
They will certainly be no pushovers, with the data actually pointing towards a home win.
FootballBlog takes a look…
Celtic Euro form
It’s not just domestically where Celtic have toiled this term so far.
Rodgers had to handle off field issues and that has seemed to follow the players onto the pitch. There were fan threats of a protest before the Braga game in the matchday before last.
Celtic lost that game 2-0 at home in front of a home crowd and that followed the opening stalemate in Serbia with a goalless draw against Crvena Zvezda.
It left Celts languishing near the bottom of the League Phase and their next tie did not start too well either as a stunning strike from Sturm Graz’s Tomi Horvat gave his side the lead in Glasgow.
Celtic would turn the game on its head to win 2-1 and get themselves off the mark with a win but it was not exactly the comprehensive victory they wanted pre-match.
The Scottish giants are now 21st – within the playoff spots – with four points.
Midtjylland run and results
Mike Tullberg’s side are in the midst of a strong season of their own which bodes well for them when Celtic arrive at the MCH Arena on Thursday evening.
They are top of the Europa League table, perhaps unexpectedly, with nine points and three wins from their three opening games.
Not only have they picked up maximum points on the Euro stage, they have performed well in all of those matches and have found the net eight times, conceding just two goals in the process.
Victories over Sturm Graz, Nottingham Forest and Maccabi Tel Aviv have taken them soaring and their top performers continue to strut their stuff.
Franculino in particular has shone and will be the key danger man for Celtic to consider as he has already found the net 17 times in all competitions with two strikes in their three Euro matches vs Tel Aviv.
In the Superliga back in their homeland, FCM also sit second after 14 matches and eight wins in that timeframe.
They are on 29 points – two behind leaders AGF – but it is a closely contested division right now with Brondby and Copenhagen also nearby.
Martin O’Neill’s European record
O’Neill had an incredibly strong squad during his time at Celtic, boasting the likes of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, Paul Lambert and John Hartson among plenty others.
And yet, they inexplicably never made it out of the group stage in the Champions League.
Six wins from 18 in the elite competition and nine defeats – with three draws chucked in for good measure – was not a bad return considering the world class opponents they had over the years.
Celts in that time defeated huge names like Barcelona, Juventus and Lyon while also running Bayern Munich and AC Milan close at the time when they had truly iconic squads.
In the UEFA Cup O’Neill guided his team to the 2003 final only to be beaten in extra-time by Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto 3-2 in Seville.
Before 2009 in the UEFA Cup, O’Neill won 11 of the 25 matches he managed, drawing five and losing nine.
It’s safe to say his record in Europe before now is excellent.
Celtic historical European record
As a club, as a whole… not so good.
Away from home in particular, Celtic’s European record must be one of the worst on the continent, historically.
In the Champions League since 2000 they have played a grand total of 118 matches both home and away and they have only won 42 in total.
The Europa League – formerly the UEFA Cup – they have picked up 38 victories from 91 total matches.
In almost 15 years of football, those stats are fairly damning and that is under nine different manager tenures (including O’Neill, Rodgers and Lennon all two separate stints).
