“Celtic’s Champions League Run Gets Huge Praise from Gary Lineker After Impressive Start!”

Celtic’s Champions League journey this season has sparked intense debate among fans and pundits, with Gary Lineker naming the Hoops as a surprise package after picking up four points from three games. Following their Scottish Premiership victory, Celtic entered Europe’s top competition in the new ‘league phase’ format, where they’ll face eight teams over several months. So far, they’ve hosted Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park and tackled challenging away games against Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta.

Celtic’s Champions League campaign is off to a promising start, having secured a dominant 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava and a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Atalanta. Despite a heavy 7-1 defeat at Borussia Dortmund, these results keep Celtic in a strong position for the play-off round, where they’ll need to finish between 9th and 24th in the league phase to qualify. This impressive start has positioned them as a surprise contender, with Gary Lineker among those praising their efforts.

On The Rest Is Football podcast, Gary Lineker shared his admiration for Celtic’s Champions League performances, placing them among his top three surprise packages this season. Despite the 7-1 loss to Dortmund, Lineker praised their emphatic 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava and resilient 0-0 draw against Atalanta. Alongside Celtic, Lineker highlighted Aston Villa and Brest from Ligue 1, who have also made surprising impacts in Europe.

He commented, “Celtic, in a weird way, considering they actually got battered in one game, have got four points from the other two. That gives them a realistic shot at the middle block.”