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.
Celtic
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 (£4.5m)
Adam Idah (£9.5m)
Daizen Maeda (£1.6m)
Total squad cost – £69.3 million
Slovan Bratislava
Goalkeepers
Dominik Takac (free)
Martin Trnovsky (Academy)
Adam Hrdina (Academy)
Defenders
Lukas Pauschek (free)
Jurij Medvedev (free)
Cesar Blackman (free)
Sharani Zuberu (free)
Matus Vojtko (£150,000)
Guram Kashia (free transfer)
Siemen Voet (£150,000)
Kevin Wimmer (free)
Kenan Bajric (£500,000)
Midfielders
Tigran Barseghyan (free)
Elvis Isaac (free)
Vladimir Weiss (free)
Robert Mak (free)
Samuel Habodasz (Academy)
Nino Marcelli (Academy)
Alen Mustafic (free)
Marko Tolic (£900,000)
Artur Gajdos (free)
Maxim Mateas (Academy)
Juraj Kucka (free)
Danylo Ignatenko (free)
Kyriakos Savvidis (free)
Julius Szoke (£400,000)
Attackers
Sharani Zuberu (free)
Martin Misovic (Academy)
Idjessi Metsoko (loan from Viktoria Plzen)
David Strelec (£600,000)
Total squad cost – £2.7 million