Tuesday night was a magical one not just for Celtic but for all of Scottish football.
Brendan Rodgers’ side travelled to Israel for the second leg of their Champions League play-off against Hapoel Be’er Sheva holding a 5-2 advantage from the first game at Parkhead.
However, the Hoops fans across the world were left biting their nails as the home side scored two goals without reply.
Thankfully, Celtic held their nerve and will be in today’s draw for the group stages of the competition.
To be honest, I think if you are the champions of your country, then you should not have to go through qualifying rounds.
I always felt it was one of the most baffling decisions ever by Uefa to let teams other than champions in the back door.
Thankfully, though Celtic will now be part of the competition again for the first time in three years. It means so much not just in terms of prestige but it is also massive financially with the club now set for a windfall that could be worth well over £20 million.
Of course, the other top clubs in Scotland will also benefit from Celtic’s achievement with the Premiership sides receiving around £200,000 each.
That could mean the difference between missing or securing transfer targets or the money may be ploughed back into the club paying for better facilities.
Rodgers also deserves a lot of credit for what he has achieved at Celtic Park in a short space of time.
As a former player myself, I know what Champions League football means to the club and it’s great to have it back.
One of Celtic’s main men, of course, is striker Leigh Griffiths.
I have known him since he was a youngster at Dundee and even back then, he always scored goals.
He is also part of the Scotland squad and has been selected again for the opening World Cup qualifier against Malta.
He is the striker in form and he has added other things to his game like closing down all along the back line.
Scotland like to play with just one up top but I don’t see any reason why he cannot fill that role – he did that for most of last season under Ronny Deila at Celtic.
As I said, he has always scored goals for fun and after it didn’t work out for him when he left Dundee to go to Wolves, he has come back and seems more determined than ever to succeed – all credit to him.
Scotland will be without Scott Brown against Malta after he announced his retirement from international football.
I am sure he thought long and hard about making the decision but he is maybe at the stage of his career where club football is the priority.
Brown did really well for the national side but ultimately Celtic pay his wages and he will be a key player in the Champions League so now was probably the right time for him to call it quits with Scotland.
Dundee’s Scott Bain, who has been called up to a couple of international squads, failed to win the nod this time.
He did well to receive those previous call-ups playing for a provincial club and I think he still has a bit to go before he can say he is ahead of the lads currently in the Scotland set-up.
However, time is on his side and having had that taste, he will be hungry for more.
