Opinion: Celtic must avoid falling into European trap for fourth time

Celtic will go into Thursday night’s Europa Conference League game against Bodo/Glimt full of confidence.

The Hoops have won their last nine fixtures in all competitions, and have been performing well in domestic football.

It isn’t always easy to translate that domestic form into European football, but the Bhoys performed respectably in the Europa League group stages, winning three games from six and finishing in third place.

The Celtic squad is now stronger than it was during the group stages thanks to the signings made in the January transfer window, and that added strength in depth could go a long way towards helping the Bhoys make progress in the Europa Conference League.

One thing that Celtic will need to do to ensure that progress is made in Europe is to ensure that the Bhoys do not fall into a trap for the fourth time this season, that is taking the lead, but not being able to hold on to the lead and eventually losing the game.

In three big European games this season – against Midtjylland, Real Betis and Bayer Leverkusen – the Hoops have taken the lead in the games but ended up losing the game, losing 2-1 to Midtjylland, 4-3 to Real Betis and 3-2 to Bayer Leverkusen.

In every game the Hoops have looked comfortable – at one stage having a two goal lead against the Spanish side – but were unable to see out the game, and couldn’t hold on.

Those games were all away from home, and the Hoops will be playing at Celtic Park on Thursday night, so there is one major difference between the games that the Hoops failed to hold on and win and the Bodo/Glimt match.

However, Celtic will still need to guard against complacency if the Hoops do take the lead in the game, as Bodo/Glimt will provide a test, it can’t be forgotten that