Cameron Carter-Vickers says Celtic are on the verge of hitting their golden number of points in the Champions League.
The Hoops centre-back hinted that Brendan Rodgers’squad targeted a total of 10 at the start of the group stage. And if they manage to beat Club Brugge at Parkhead on Wednesday they’ll have achieved it – with three games to spare.
Carter-Vickers insists they’re in a confident mood, especially after their victory over RB Leipzig last time out. And the US international would love to hit that 10-point mark with a win over the Belgians.
Carter-Vickers said: “We feel really good right now. Right at the beginning of this competition we outlined how many points we wanted to reach but we’ve just been taking it game by game.
“We’re in a strong position but it’s about adding to that tally and seeing how many we can achieve. It was around 10. But we feel as a group we’re now close to getting out of this group phase.
“There are still four games and we want to get positive results in all of them. It’s us against ourselves now in terms of seeing how many we get.
“Leipzig was a really good night for us, we controlled a lot of the game well and hopefully we can take that positive experience into Wednesday night.”
Carter-Vickers has revealed Celtic team-mates Kasper Schmeichel and Arne Engels have passed on key information on the strength of Club Brugge ahead of the Euro clash. Engels knows several of his countrymen, while Schmeichel faced them with Anderlecht last season.
Carter-Vickers hopes their input can contribute to another memorable Champions League victory. He said: “They are definitely helping us. Arne has been giving us some pointers and so has Kasper. He played them four times last season so he’s also had some good information for us.”
Carter-Vickers believes it would be a major feat for Rodgers’ men if they can get through the group stage and reach the knock-out phase of the new-look Champions League.
He said: “It would be a big achievement for us. But our goal from the beginning is the knock-out round and we feel we’re pretty close. But we’re fully aware we have four tough games to go and we need to get points – so that’s our focus.
“We’ve grown as a group massively. Over the last few seasons, the Champions League has been a big learning experience for me and the rest of the squad. Now, you can see we’re a bit more mature and composed at this level. That has helped us pick up points.”
Boss Brendan Rodgers has been delighted at the work to get to seven and knows the knows the points scenario, but said: “I’ve not really thought about it really.
“Our objective is to get into the play-off phase first and foremost and then we just have to see what points total that will take us. But for us, it really is focusing on this game and to bring the performance level.
“Halfway point. I think seven out of 12, we’re really, really pleased with. And not just that, I think it’s the performance level at and in the competition that gives us confidence.
“But yeah, we get into our next run of games now and like I say, we just want to accumulate as many points as we can. But I think seven out of 12 is a really good start against the opponents that we’ve played.”