Celtic's £13m Champions League qualification concern after surprise result

Celtic were dealt a minor Champions League qualification concern on Tuesday evening.

Spanish side Villarreal surprisingly dumped German giants Bayern Munich out of the tournament to reach the semi-finals.

The Yellow Submarine won 2-1 on aggregate following a 1-1 draw in Germany thanks to Samuel Chukwueze’s 88th minute equaliser at the Allianz Arena.

Led by former Arsenal manager Unai Emery they were the first team to reach the last four and were joined shortly after by Real Madrid.

The reason it is bad news for Celtic, who are likely to win the Scottish Premiership title, is because Villarreal sit seventh in La Liga, 11 points behind fourth place Atletico Madrid.

For the Premiership winners to gain direct entry into the Champions League group stages they need the winner of this year’s tournament to have already qualified through their league position.

Real Madrid are heading for the league title, while in tonight’s semi-finals, Liverpool and Manchester City – second and first in the Premier League – hold first-leg leads over Benfica and Atletico Madrid.

Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there could be tweaks to who qualifies and how but as things currently stand, the Scottish Premiership winners enter at the play-off round stage, meaning a two-legged tie to secure passage to the lucrative group stages, worth £13million alone in prize money just getting to that stage.

However, if a team who have already qualified for the tournament through their league position is to win this season's Champions League it would bump the Premiership winners into the group stages.