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Lookman, it’s Celtic in Italy

Opta stats might have Celtic having the easiest set of ties of the 36 teams in the new look Champions League, but then again you have to put into perspective that these are the best teams in Europe. Easy is relative, and when you consider that Celtic now have to face the Europa League holders as their pot two away team, it does tend to put things in perspective.

When Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the final in Dublin back in May, it gave them not only their first trophy since 1963 but their first ever European trophy.

It’s also worth remembering that they did something no other team managed to do last season in beating Leverkusen. That was a team that won the Bundesliga undefeated, a feat no side had managed before, and added an invincible domestic double by winning the DFB-Pokal just a few days after the match in Dublin. The 51 matches that Leverkusen went undefeated in all competitions broke Benfica’s European record of 48 undefeated from 1963 to 1965, which it should be noted is only a records since European competition considering Celtic hold the actual European record of 62 games undefeated from 1915 to 1917 (or 66 if you could lesser tournaments)

It does get even more confusing when you do or don’t count European matches because the domestic record for Celtic is now 69 games from 2016 to 2017, but they lost European games during that time. However they did still manage 42 games undefeated across all competitions during that period which is one of the top ten runs since the advent of European competitions.

For completeness, the Scottish record for the European competition era is 44, held by Rangers from 1992 to 1993.

Anyway, that does rather put Atalanta’s Europa League feat into context. Although they lost the Super Cup 2-0 to Real Madrid…

… they’ve started this Champions League campaign well with a goalless draw at home to Arsenal…

… before winning 3-0 away to Shakhtar Donetsk (a game that took place in Gelsenkirchen, Germany)

Ademola Lookman clearly the… eh… man to look out for tonight then!

Atalanta have never faced Scottish opposition before, so not a lot to look back on there! Instead let’s look at Celtic’s record in Italy.

Ahh.

Eleven defeats, three draws and just one win. You might remember the win, it was fairly recent. The 2019/20 Europa League group stage match against Lazio when Celtic were head over heels in the Olimpico when Olivier Ntcham scored the late winner after Ciro Immobile’s opener and James Forrest’s equaliser…

Of the three draws, two came back in the 1960s. A 0-0 draw with AC Milan in the 1968/69 European Cup quarter final (Celtic would lose the home leg and Milan would go on to win the trophy)

… and a 0-0 draw with Inter in the 1971/72 European Cup semi final (Celtic would lose on penalties in the home leg and Inter would lose the final to Ajax). I can only find a video of the home leg of this one. Sorry Dixie.

The most recent draw was a 1-1 draw with Udinese, which was not enough to see Celtic progress out of the 2011/12 Europa League group stage. Gary Hooper had given Celtic the lead, but Antonio Di Natale levelled the game and knocked Celtic out.

A quick run through of the defeats then, most of which have been to either Milan or Juventus to be honest!

The first was a 1-0 defeat to Fiorentina in the 1969/70 European Cup quarter final courtesy of Luciano Chiarugi (although Celtic did ultimately win the tie and reach the final which is why I can’t find footage of the away leg). Juventus won 2-0 in the 1981/82 European Cup first round with goals from Pietro Virdis and Roberto Bettega…

… and also won 3-2 in the Champions League group stage of 2001/02 – Celtic’s very first participation in a group stage. Celtic had come from two David Trezeguet goals down thanks to Stiliyan Petrov and Henrik Larsson, only to be undone by a very dubious penalty won and scored by Nicola Amoruso.

There was then a 3-1 defeat to eventual finalists AC Milan in the 2004/05 Champions League group stage. Andrei Shevchenko gave Milan an early lead before Stan Varga levelled in the second half, only for Filippo Inzaghi and Andrea Pirlo to one-two Celtic at the death.

Next was a 1-0 defeat after extra time to eventual winners AC Milan in the 2006/07 Champions League round of sixteen thanks to Kaka…

and a 1-0 defeat to reigning European champions AC Milan in the 2007/08 Champions League group stage courtesy of Inzaghi once more. Can’t find a video of this one though.

Then it was the turn of Juventus again with a 2-0 win in the 2012/13 Champions League round of sixteen, goals from Alessandro Matri and Fabio Quagliarella.

Back to AC Milan again for the 2013/14 Champions League group stage 2-0 defeat thanks to an Emilio Izaguirre own goal and Sulley Muntari…

… before Inter had a go with a 1-0 defeat in the 2014/15 Europa League round of thirty two thanks to a goal by Fredy Guarin.

Then it’s back to AC Milan again for the 4-2 defeat in the 2020/21 Europa League group stage. Celtic were two up thanks to Tom Rogic and Odsonne Edouard, only to be pegged back by half time thanks to goals from Hakan Calhangolu and Sami Castillejo, and beaten by second half goals from Jens Petter Hauge and Brahim Diaz.

The most recent visit to Italy saw Lazio gain revenge with a 2-0 win over Celtic in last season’s Champions League group stage, both goals from Immobile.

Celtic were twentieth in the table prior to last night’s games, behind Lille and Paris Saint-Germain on goal difference. On match day one they got off the a flyer with a 5-1 win at home to Slovan Bratislava. Goals from Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Arne Engels, Kevin Wimmer reduced the deficit for a bit before Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah finished the job.

But all that good work was more than undone away to Borussia Dortmund where Celtic lost 7-1. Emre Can started it before Daizen Maeda equalised. But that didn’t last long as Karim Adeyemi hit a first half hat trick, his third coming after Serhou Guirassy has scored from the spot. Guirassy scored again in the second half before Felix Nmecha finished the rout.

Atalanta are currently sixth in Serie A after eight games, six points behind leaders Napoli. On Sunday they won 2-0 away to Venezia, and will host Hellas Verona this coming Saturday.

Celtic are currently top of the Scottish Premiership ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference whom they drew 2-2 with at home on Saturday. Next up is a visit to Motherwell on Sunday.