Celtic bank £30m, top the Scottish Premiership and draw Barcelona – teams should fear The Bhoys

Celtic go into the international break having qualified for the Champions League – guaranteeing themselves £30m – top of the league with a game in hand and have yet to play consistent over 90 minutes.

That should raise alarm bells for anyone who faces them.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have blitzed teams in the first-half in almost all their domestic games and their first leg against Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Creating chances and tearing defences apart, no one could stop them with their fluid movement and incisive passing.

And in Saturday’s game against Aberdeen, we saw that even after 90 minutes in Israel and a flight home, they still have enough in the tank to score two goals in the last five minutes.

When the teams return after the international break, Celtic will prepare for their first game against Rangers of the season. Fans will have high hopes of another win that will move them four points clear of everyone. It also gives them a chance to atone for last years abysmal loss in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

European giants FC Barcelona will return to Celtic Park once again, and there will be hopes of repeating the victory in 2012. Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andreas Iniesta all lauded the atmosphere at the stadium, which will no doubt be electric once again when the Champions League anthem rings around the stadium.

Manchester City fans and players will have never experienced an atmosphere like Celtic Park on a European night, and while Scottish football lags behind England in financial terms, Celtic fans dwarf their southern counterparts in passion for their club.

Only Manchester United have sold more season tickets than Celtic this season – a damming fact for English football fans who are seeing world-class players almost every week.

With the battle of Britain taking place at the end of September, much of the debate will be about whether Celtic could compete in the Premier League. Currently, there’s no doubt they wouldn’t be favoured by many to perform, but give them the money English clubs get from previous and their latest TV deal and they’d be among the top five clubs in Britain.

Barcelona thrashed Celtic 6-1 during their last encounter in the Champions League back in December 2013 – Photo: Offside / MarcaMedia.

Celtic haven’t faced German opposition in a competitive game since Hamburg in 2009, and the pairing with Borussia Monchengladbach will offer fans the chance to travel for the first time in six years to Germany, while also facing a competent side. Monchengladbach finished bottom of a very tough group last season that included City, the 2015 finalists Juventus, and the back-to-back Europa League winners Sevilla.

There are still lapses in concentration in defence, which has been a problem for Celtic for a number of years now, but Rodgers’ Liverpool side had the same problem. At the peak of their power, they scored four or five, but conceded two or three.

The football is entertaining, but in Europe it will not be a winning formula – especially at Celtic. That leaves one question mark hanging over this Celtic side after Tuesday night. Can they be organised in defence and hold off against Barcelona and Manchester City’s world-class players in the Champions League?

In just over two weeks time, that will become much clearer when Celtic travel to Barcelona for the third time in four years. Playing in such a competition against top teams is fantastic, but the fact some fans complained about playing Barcelona yet again, shows how lucky we are to get tired of facing Europe’s elite.

For now all the focus will be on Rangers, and whether you believe it’s the first-ever league meeting or the first in over four years, it will certainly provide lots of action, and plenty of talking points!