Matt O'Riley says that Celtic could've won the Champions League under Ange Postecoglou before he jetted off for Tottenham.
O'Riley joined the Hoops in January of last season, and though he had to contend with David Turnbull, Reo Hatate, James McCarthy and even Nir Bitton, he quickly found his way into the first team as a regular starter. It's been an impressive few years for the Danish international; having failed to make the grade at Fulham, he joined MK Dons in a bid for first-team football - and that brought about advances from Ange Postecoglou.
But not even in his wildest dreams would he have expected to win five out of six titles, whilst also impressing on the European stage, considering it was League One football the year before. But O'Riley only - and rightly - sees the sky as the limit. Despite Postecoglou's side coming bottom of their Champions League group, the Hounslow-born star said that he found it tough to watch other games in the competition - because the Hoops 'should have been there'.
O'Riley said: “The Champions League games were all different tests for me. In terms of players I faced, there were lots of different challenges.
“There were the likes of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos against Real Madrid then someone like Mykhailo Mudryk at Shakhtar who was so direct. Those were the most enjoyable games of the season for me because your levels are always pushed.
“I’ve found it hard to watch Champions League games on TV since then because I think: ‘We could have been there if we’d performed better’. At that level, any mistake you make you get punished for. We found that out ourselves.
“But I’m looking forward to this season’s Champions League believing we can do much better. We’ve got more players now who are used to our system. We bought players last summer and in January who have done really well. But it takes time to adapt to our structure as there are details that need to be addressed when you come into Celtic.
“Having that period of adjustment already will hopefully make us more cohesive when we play in the Champions League. Is it unrealistic to expect a Scottish team to reach the knock-out stages? I never see it that way.
“Everyone on the pitch is human, you’ve all got a chance of winning the match. Of course, these other clubs have more money but that doesn’t mean too much.
“We just worry about what we can do. I’m not saying we’ll win it – although we obviously could if it all went well – but if you perform well and don’t think too much about outcomes and expectations, you’ve always got a chance.”
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