Celtic dine at uniquely awful Champions League club of one but opportunity arises to escape time capsule of terror

A trip down memory lane shows Celtic entered their first European Cup in 1967 and won it.

That crowned them the first British team to win the trophy, achieving the feat with a 15-man squad of Scots with the majority of whom were born within 10 miles of Celtic Park. They also reached the 1964 and 1966 Cup Winners Cup semi-finals.

In the 1970s they reached the 1970 European Cup Final, the semi-finals in 1972 and 1974, and the quarter final of the 1976 Cup Winners Cup. In 1980 they reached the quarter final of the European Cup. After that 1980 campaign, Celtic would fail to stay in Europe beyond Christmas for TWENTY-THREE years. A dark period in Celtic’s European history. The dreadful run was ended in fantastic style in 2003, with Martin O’Neill’s brilliant side going all the way to the UEFA Cup final in Seville. They agonisingly lost 3-2 in extra time to Jose Mourinho’s Porto – who would of course go on to win the Champions League the following season.

O’Neill had restored European pride for the hoops that had been lost for so long. In 2004 they again did well, reaching the UEFA Cup quarter finals, beating Barcelona en route. Two consecutive years of post-Christmas knockout round success, it was hoped a corner had been turned.

Since that knockout round victory over Barcelona in 2004, Bebo, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube and Google Chrome have all launched. The first iPhone has been invented – and there’s been 42 variations since. The first Marvel movie was released, and another 32 have followed. We’ve had …. well, you get the point.

At Celtic and Rangers in that time - Peter Lawwell, who joined Celtic four months after the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, served as chief executive for 18 years, retired, and re-joined Celtic as chairman.