A trouncing 6-0 defeat at the hands of Lazio on Tuesday evening all but ensured Celtic’s fate in Europe for the season. The Spaniards taught the Celts a lesson in a game that could have been very different if the Bhoys had ten men on the park throughout.
They didn’t, though, and were condemned to a heavy loss few will want to remember. Despite sitting bottom of the group with two games to go, there are a couple of ways in which the Celts can still secure Europe after Christmas.
No matter what, Celtic need to beat Lazio away and Feyenoord at home to get into Europe after Christmas. If they want the Europa League via finishing third, they need Feyenoord to either lose to draw to Atletico on matchday five.
If the former comes true, the Bhoys just need to beat them in the final game (along with defeating Lazio) but if the latter comes to fruition, a three-goal win would need to be secured by Brendan Rodgers’ men on matchday six.
Gaining Europa League football is a simpler task than qualifying for the Champions League after Christmas. To do this, Celtic would need any of the circumstances previously mentioned to ring true, and they’d also require Lazio to lose to Atleti on matchday six and beat them by two goals in Rome.
It will undoubtedly be arduous, but it is within the realms of possibility that Celtic do secure European football after Christmas. Rodgers has openly stated this is the goal. Some hope might be up, but there are still 180 minutes of football to be played and in those, anything could happen.
