It is back to European duty next midweek for our three Scottish clubs as they look to continue the feelgood factor from last time out.
Celtic picked up a stunning point on the road at Atalanta in the Champions League while Rangers battered Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League at Ibrox with Hearts also clocking up a second Conference League win to remain 100 per cent in the competition – despite their struggles domestically so far this campaign.
Ahead of returning to Europe’s top table, Brendan Rodgers and his troops smashed Aberdeen’s unbeaten start to the season apart with a thumping 6-0 win at Hampden in the Premier Sports Cup to keep their own domestic run without defeat going. Philippe Clement and his Rangers side are bidding to join their rivals in the showpiece next month when they face Motherwell at the national stadium today with nothing less than a win good enough after the midweek defeat at Aberdeen with the pressure at fever pitch.
Hearts picked up a major confidence boosting 2-1 win away at St Johnstone as they bid to put a run of form together and get themselves away from the foot of the table. RB Leipzig, Olympiacos and Heidenheim will have been taking note and keeping tabs on the weekend results – just like our clubs will be their Euro rivals and the good news is it has been quite the mixed bag.
Starting with Celtic, they come up against RB Leipzig and know a home win would put them onto seven points and a strong position. In contrast, their Bundesliga opponents are yet to get off the mark after defeats to Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool. Andre Silva has described the Parkhead trip ‘like a final’ and they travel off the back of a first league defeat of the season after going down to Dortmund 2-1. They remain second behind Bayern Munich but ideally they’d wanted a win before heading for Glasgow.
Silva said: “This match against Celtic is like a final for us. We need a victory to stay alive in this competition. With zero or one point from four matches, only a miracle would see us progress to the next stage of the Champions League. We are not a bad team but in the matches so far, luck was absent for us.
“But we must beat Celtic on Tuesday. They have four points already and they’re very strong at home. That’s a warning to us. It won’t be an easy match for us and we’ll need an enormous effort from the first minute to win. But if we can find the same levels we’ve had in previous seasons in the Champions League, we can win in Glasgow.
“Our European future this season depends on it. If we have the right mentality we can win and follow our dream in the Champions League.”
Clement and Rangers have faced a tough few days in the wake of their defeat at Aberdeen and they will be desperate, and ultimately need to, defeat Motherwell at Hampden to release some of that pressure and get confidence back in the side. Olympiacos on the road is no easy task and the Greek giants picked up a 2-1 weekend win ahead of welcoming the Light Blues.
Similarly to Rangers they beat Malmo away and lost against Lyon in the Europa League so far. Both have six points and can take a real step towards the knockouts at this early stage by putting a further three points on the board.
Over to Hearts, and it is Bundesliga opposition from them in the shape of Heidenheim. They suffered a shock defeat on the road at Holstein Kiel – just a first victory of the campaign for them and a first EVER in Germany’s top league. The team second bottom of the German top flight only had two points from nine games before that win over the Jambos’ Euro rivals. Neil Critchley and his side will hope the Tynecastle factor can deliver another big performance and result which would surely see them over the line for the next round.
Euro rivals results in full
Borussia Dortmund 2 RB Leipzig 1
Olympiacos 2 Panserraikos 1
Holstein Kiel 1 Heidenheim 0