CELTIC may be out, but they are not down. That’s the message from Cameron Carter-Vickers, as the central defender reflects upon their Champions League campaign following confirmation of their exit from European football on Tuesday night.
The 1-1 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk meant that Celtic will definitely finish bottom of Group F, no matter what happens in their final match. Which just so happens to be against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
The disappointing points tally so far though is not a true reflection of Celtic’s level during the competition in Carter-Vickers’ view, and he firmly believes that there is an appetite within their dressing room to come back next season and show that they have heeded the harsh lessons from this term’s ultimately disappointing campaign.
The talent, he says, is absolutely there already. And allied to the experience a mostly young group have now picked up, he sees no reason why there is not growth still to come from Ange Postecoglou’s team.
“One hundred per cent we want to get back to the Champions League,” Carter-Vickers said.
“Even when we’ve been playing in the competition we’ve also been taking the domestic games one hundred percent seriously. We go out to win them all.
“It has made us want more of it. Definitely. The results haven’t been great but we’ve still shown we can compete at this level.
“I would 100-per-cent agree [that the team can grow from this]. Results haven’t been good, we know we’re not there yet. But I definitely think within the group we feel we can get there eventually.
“For a large part of our group this has been a new experience, playing in the Champions League. It was always going to take a bit of time to adjust. But, I think we’ve all grown in belief and become better players for the experience.
“I think we’ve done well without getting the results we all wanted. We’ve still got another game to go and that will be another fantastic experience. But like I say, we also want to get a result.
“I feel good. It’s been challenging, but at the same time it’s been good to match up with some of the best teams, some of the best players in the world and I’ve enjoyed it.”
Despite an even bolder approach in terms of formation from Celtic manager Postecoglou on Tuesday evening, Celtic perhaps carried less of a goal threat than they have in previous games in the group. But Carter-Vickers was reasonably pleased with the showing of the team overall, even as he conceded that Celtic just fell short yet again.
“We played well again for large parts of the game, just like the other matches,” he said. “But at this level it’s tough.
“I felt we started fairly well. We controlled large part of the first half. They had one chance towards the end of the half but apart from that not too much. But like the other games we just came up short.
“I think they’ve all been fairly similar performances. We’ve attacked every game the same way, tried to play our style. I wouldn’t say against Shakhtar it was a notch down from how we’ve been performing. I think it was on a similar level.
“I think it’s just Champions League football. You’re not going to control or dominate a game for the full 90 minutes.
“There will be periods when they have the ball and you’re trying to maintain your shape and defending. To be fair, I felt we did that quite well.
“Their goal came from a counter attack.”
And quite the counter attack at that. In Mykhaylo Mudryk – who twice denied Celtic wins in Group F with sensational solo goals – Shakhtar have a superstar in the making, but the experience of coming up against such players can only be a valuable one according to Carter-Vickers.
The American international would go as far as putting the Ukrainian wonder-boy among the very best attackers he has faced.
“I would say so,” he said. “Very direct, very quick. He’s now scored two goals against us in two games, so you can see he’s also a very good finisher.
“He’s a top, top player with unbelievable pace. He’s a big threat. Listen, we of course knew that before the game.
“But obviously it’s still hard to deal with someone of that kind of pace.”
All that is left for Celtic to do now is to lick their wounds, chalk the blows up to experience, and use it all to come back stronger next year. Once they have that small matter of a trip to the Bernabeu out of the way, of course.
Typically, as you may expect from one of Postecoglou’s charges, there is no doubt in his mind that they will travel to Madrid and attempt to go down swinging.
“Of course we will,” he said. “Every game you want to win, no matter if there’s something on it or not.
“It will be great for us to go to the Bernabeu, one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, and play there. We’ll want to win the game.
“We’ve attacked all the games in the group so far and we’ll look to do the same in the Bernabeu. “We’ll have a go at Real Madrid.”
