Celtic's squad worth 20 TIMES more than Slovan Bratislava as Champions League financial script flipped

The gulf between the haves and the have-nots has grown bigger than ever in recent years which has made the job of Scottish clubs competing at the highest level in European football more difficult than ever.

Celtic have discovered that to their cost after failing to get out of the Champions League group stage since Neil Lennon managed to achieve that feat more than a decade ago. But a revamped premier tournament has brought new hope - not to mention the Parkhead board splashing out to back boss Brendan Rodgers after the Irishman's return to the Hoops hot-set with making an impact on the continent after the very top of his priorities.

But while spending a club record £11million on midfielder Arne Engels - not to mention £9.5m - might show the kind of ambition supporters have craved, it remains chicken feed to the real superpowers of European football. However, when it comes to Celtic's opening opponents on Wednesday night, it's the Hoops are the princes to the paupers with Slovak side Slovan Bratislava's squad less than £3m and almost a third of that was spent on Croatian midfielder Marko Tolic who was signed from Dinamo Zagreb. Record Sport looked at how they compare.

Goalkeepers

Kasper Schmeichel (free)

Viljami Sinisalo (£1m)

Scott Bain (free)

Defenders

Alistair Johnston (£3.5m)

Greg Taylor (£3m)

Liam Scales (£500,000)

Auston Trusty (£6m)

Alex Valle (loan)

Maik Nawrocki (£4.3m)

Cameron Carter-Vickers (£6m)

Anthony Ralston (Academy)

Stephen Welsh (Academy)

Midfielders

Reo Hatate (£1.4m)

Luis Palma (£3.5m)

Nicolas Kuhn (£3m)

Yang Hyun-jun (£2m)

Luke McCowan (£1m)

Arne Engels (£11m)

Paulo Bernardo (£3.5m)

Callum McGregor (Academy)

James Forrest (Academy)

Adam Montgomery (Academy)

Attackers

Kyogo Furuhashi