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"What we want to show is that we want to be competitive, we want to go into Europe and see if we can make a mark."

The words of Brendan Rodgers when he was asked about Celtic's expectations in the Champions League as he was unveiled as Hoops boss for the second time. The 50-year-old appears well aware of the challenge in front of him in making the Parkhead club a force on the European stage once again.

It is not unfair to say that Celtic have been lacklustre in European competition over the last 19 years, with the club having not won a knockout match since their 2004 UEFA Cup victory over Barcelona.

While some memorable moments have been sprinkled in there over that time period, such as Gordon Strachan's side reaching the last 16 of the Champions League two seasons in a row off the back of victories against giants such as Manchester United and AC Milan or Neil Lennon's team reaching the same stage after defeating Barcelona during the 2012-13 campaign.

However, each of those individual seasons in Europe ended once knockout football was introduced. Group stages have been a mixed bag for the Scottish champions, with some successful such as when Celtic topped their Europa League group, containing Lazio, Rennes and CFR Cluj, in 2019. At the same time, others have been disastrous, such as when they finished bottom the following season.

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The club have, it could be argued, vastly underachieved on the European stage for a long time. There is an obvious financial gap in terms of Celtic and many of the sides in the Champions League but the same cannot be said for all of the teams in bot the Europa and Conference League. 

AEK Athens, CFR Cluj, F.C. Copenhagen, Ferencvaros, FC Midtjylland and Bodo/Glimt are teams that have put Celtic out of European competition - whether it be in qualifiers or knockout rounds - over the last five years and have smaller budgets than the Parkhead club. It is a dismal record that has been discussed to death at this point.

So, how can things change? Clearly, simply having more money than certain opponents has not provided success. It is about how the resources are used. Celtic are now too far away from being able to compete with super clubs such as Manchester City or Real Madrid. The odd shock in a one-off game is, of course, possible, but over two legs, these teams are light years ahead.

However, at the second level of European football, clubs such as Porto, Red Bull Salzburg etc, are the teams Brendan Rodgers' side should be trying to match. One way to do this is by making sure the club is regularly qualifying for the Champions League, which is currently possible through winning the Scottish Premiership.

Former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou discussed the importance of the club making "incremental gains" at Europe's top table. He said: "We know the areas we have fallen short in this campaign and they are the areas we obviously need to improve in. But that only comes with experience and learnings and improvement. That’s our task – to take what we learned this year and improve for next year. 

"But we have to qualify again. We haven’t been in this competition for five years. If you do that it’s very hard to just come in and make an impact. Our job and my responsibility is to make sure we are there every year. If we are there every year and keep chipping away at it then we will be able to make more of an impact."

While the Australian did not remain in situ to see through this progression, his words still ring true. Regular Champions League income, along with the player trading model allowing for a repeat of sales like the £25million the club recently banked for Jota, will help things develop on and off the park.

However, what does progression actually look like? Winning a group stage game, finishing third and dropping into the Europa League, reaching the round of 16 or making the latter stages of the Champions League?

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Rodgers was asked this question at his first press conference. "What I would like to think is that we can do something in Europe," he said. "It's been well-documented over many years when the club hasn't qualified and we have not got a great record in terms of European football.

"So even though that is a challenge with the resources that other clubs will have in terms of European football, it's a great challenge for us to get Champions League football this season.

"We must look to have European football after Christmas and like I say that's a great challenge for us all. When I look within the club, whenever I had spoken to Michael [Nicholson] and when he came out to present the infrastructure at the club, there were a lot of things in place that we'd spoken about."

Rodgers clearly feels he can take the club forward at a European level. He is the last manager to win a Champions League group stage fixture for Celtic, that being his side's 3-0 victory away to Anderlecht in 2017. He is clearly targeting football after Christmas and it feels like fans would be happy if that was achieved, regardless of what form it takes.

It is what comes after that supporters will be using as a benchmark to see if the club have been able to quell recent demons of European knockout football.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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