CELTIC are through to the Europa League group stages after a nervy night in Holland.
The bhoys took a two nil lead over to play Alkmaar in the second leg of the Europa playoff and looked to be cruising through when Kyogo scored an early goal away from home.
Within minutes, Celtic had shot themselves in the foot with Joe Hart hesitating on the ball, resulting in a wide open net.
The second goal was even more freakish when a whipped ball into the box landed at Carl Starfelt but he missed the clearance, the ball hit off his standing foot and into the back of the net. After that, it was an onslaught for the majority of the game from Alkmaar. They had some good chances to get a third and take the tie to extra time.
They were getting desperate towards the end, throwing defenders up front and hoping for a break of the ball. Celtic stood up and got over the line!
With that, Celtic have landed a €3.63m windfall for qualifying. Not a patch on what you get in the Champions League, but money not to be sniffed at for a club in the Scottish league.
Over and above that, performance based bonuses from UEFA could bring in some decent cash. Each win during the group stages is worth €630,000 and a draw will grab both teams €210,000.
Between that and gate receipts – Celtic will be looking at a decent amount of cash from now until December.
With some guaranteed money coming into the club, we could see some movement on transfers.
