Celtic tipped for bonus ball in Champions League cash boon as ditching 'tired' restrictions sees £40m pot overflow

Bullish Martin O'Neill has tipped Celtic to make it out of the Champions League phase.

And that would see the Scottish Premiership champions rack up another payout from UEFA amid the revamp of Europe's elite competition. Brendan Rodgers got the campaign off to the perfect start when the Celts ran riot against Slovan Bratislava in Glasgow's east end - but they now face a major test of their European pedigree with Borussia Dortmund next on the agenda.

And O'Neill - who led Celtic all the way to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003 - reckons the revamped format is the perfect opportunity for the club to progress in Europe. He told the Daily Mail: "I thought the other format was really tired. Really tired. Even for the big teams, some of the early matches didn't matter much because they knew they were going to finish first or second anyway. So this new format is good and better and, believe it or not, it does give teams of the calibre of Celtic a chance.

"You can maybe just win your home games and for Celtic that was a great victory against Bratislava. There is no doubt that some of these games away from home will be tough and you would expect them to be.

"But I don't think that Dortmund are as strong as they were when Erling Haaland was playing with them a couple of years ago. And, if you're asking me for the complete scenario rather than a judgment of the game coming up, then I think Celtic can make it to the play-offs. And that would be fantastic."

The win against Bratislava saw the club rake in £1.7m - which will be replicated for each win in the league phase. Should the club look to fulfil O'Neill's prophecy, stat boffins Opta have stated that they would need 10 points. A tally of three wins and a draw would see the Hoops rake