Ange Postecoglou makes brilliant Celtic claim about Europa League

It is safe to say that Celtic have done well to make it to the group stage of the Europa League after a difficult start to their season. The Hoops had to defeat FK Jablonec and AZ Alkmaar in the qualifying phase after getting knocked out of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers early at the hands of FC Midtjylland.

The progress that Celtic have made from the start of the campaign till now is very promising and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to show such improvement throughout the course of the season. If they can, then there is every chance that they could end up challenging for the Scottish Premiership title and have a good Europa League campaign as well.

Ange Postecoglou certainly has quite a few injury worries at the moment and with the squad not being the deepest, the Hoops could certainly face troubles against Real Betis in their Europa League group stage opener in Seville.

It does not look like there will be any change of approach from Postecoglou’s side though. While speaking at a media conference on Celtic’s official YouTube channel and as reported by 67 Hail Hail, the manager said:

"“My philosophy is that if you win games you have a good chance of progressing. So that’s irrespective of home and away, even more so in group stages. If you start thinking about scratching around for a point here or there or trying to accumulate a certain amount of points to get through, again, it’s not the kind of football team we want to be.“We’ll go there and we’ll try to win a game of football. That won’t change and our approach won’t change. It’s not that we don’t recognise the opposition, the difficulty of the opposition or playing away from home. I understand all of that.“But playing for those kinds of outcomes is just fraught with danger. You start already with conceding something, and I’m not prepared to concede anything to anyone in any way shape or form. What I do know is the game starts at 0-0 and you have 95 minutes to win a game of football.”"

Celtic will face a tough test against Real Betis in their Europa League opener

It is safe to say that Celtic have been placed in a difficult group with Bayer Leverkusen, Real Betis and Ferencvaros. Their opening game of the campaign is away in Seville against the Green-and-White side of Spain.

It was always going to be a difficult game which has been made even more difficult by the number of injury troubles that the Hoops have suffered recently. As a result, the starting XI against Real Betis is not expected to be anywhere near the strongest.

Also, Real Betis will be coming into this game on a positive note after managing to get their first win of the season on Monday, against Granada.