Celtic FC Player Qualify from the Champions League Group Stage 24/25! Player Ratings for every player for the entire campaign, & Awards.

Awards: • Player of the Group Stage; • Goal of the Group Stage; • Overall Performance of the Group Stage; • Defensive Display of the Group Stage; • Attacking Display of the Group Stage; • Save of the Group Stage; • Pass of the Group Stage; • Tackle of the group stage; and • Atmosphere of the Group Stage.

Adam Idah, 9.75, Player of the Group Stage : Played 241 minutes and scored 3 goals. That is averaging more than 1 goal a game at Champions League level – absolutely fantastic. Idah’s goal contribution versus Young Boys of Berne really was the cinematic cameo of a superhero – it was like Marvel theatre when the protagonist is horrifically about to fall off a building, then the hero arrives in the nick of time to hold out a hand to save them! The celebrations that followed in Celtic Park, and across Glasgow & the world, were just pure relief & joy. Idah followed this up brilliantly in the next game versus Villa, and the word used to describe him was ‘immense’ & that is absolutely a fitting description. At 2:0 down after 10 minutes, it looked really, REALLY bad, like we were going to be on the end of a horrendous hammering, & against an English rival that really stings super-badly FOREVER. Idah saved the day like Indiana Jones arriving on horseback, with a phenomena display of courage, skill, & power. Idah sent the Celtic fans who went down to Birmingham into wild scenes with his goals – the Villa fans & players and the UEFA delegates were literally like, “WTF?!” – Idah created amazing memories for those travelling fans that last forever! Idah’s contribution this campaign has written folklore in the Club history - that is why he is the player of the group stage.

Kasper Schmeichel, 9.5, Runner-up for Player of the Group Stage : Absolutely immense & can count himself unlucky not to be player of the group stage. Really brilliant at home to Club Brugges & Young Boys of Berne, and superb away in Atalanta where he was a tower of strength. His double save against YB Berne was the save of the group stage, although it really is a toss-up between that one & his marvellous save at home to Club Brugges. Especially in the team’s moments of need Schmeichel was a hero in the goal as well. Schmeichel has shown himself this Champions League campaign to be an elite goalkeeper, & one of Europe’s great all-time goalkeepers – what a career he has had, & he’s goalkeeping royalty - character & ability in equal measure, and just an outstanding goalkeeper & man.

Callum McGregor, 9.25, Joint Bronze for Player of the Group Stage : Played the anchor role in midfield fantastically throughout the whole campaign. He was immense away in Atalanta especially. McGregor’s performance at home to Red Bull Leipzig was the Performance of the Group Stage – that was a 10/10 performance & was as good as any performance in Europe by any Celtic player in the history – that night McGregor reached the same level as the likes of Xavi, Pirlo, Socrates, & the all time legendary sitting midfield players of the game. With this achievement, Calmac is now undoubtedly in the Pantheon of the best Celtic players of all time.

Daizen Maeda, 9.25, Joint Bronze for Player of the Group Stage : Phenomenal throughout the whole group stage. So sound defensively and always a constant menace, threat, & cutting edge going forward. He is the perfect 'soldier' player & a cult hero with the fans. Maeda’s goal against Club Brugges was the goal of the group stage – to score a stunning strike like that in such a crucial moment was phenomenal! In being a Champions League Group qualifier Daizen Maeda is officially the Celtic-Samurai!

Reo Hatate, 9 : Hatate rose to the occasion like a warrior this campaign & proved himself to be a midfield maestro. He was so powerful in the middle of the park, and then the poise & craft he had on the ball was a joy to behold. Is it an exaggeration to compare Hatate to Michael Ballack?! Perhpas, but with this achievement Hatate is certainly right up there alongside Paul McStay. Hatate’s link-up in the midfield with McGregor was superb, and was reminiscent of the Lennon & Lambert combination that took Celtic to the UEFA Cup Final in 02/03. Hatate’s through ball for Idah versus YB Berne was the pass of the group stage – sublime skill in a moment of pure need to come up trumps when the chips were down! Hatate is the ultimate number 8 – what a player.

Allistair Johnston, 8.75 : At 2:0 away to Aston Villa things looked really dire, then Johnston’s goal-line clearance was death-defying character, and great skill to adjust his feet at speed like that. That was the catalyst for the 2:2 comeback & was the tackle of the group stage! Really consistent performances all-round as well. All aboard the AJ Express – full steam ahead!

Auston Trusty, 8.75 : Away in Atalanta Trusty was absolutely immense. That was a 10/10 performance that night, and that was the defensive display of the group campaign! Trusty was amazing that night putting in as good a defensive display as any Celtic player in history – Bobo Balde, Johan Mjallby, Billy McNeil, with the list going on - you can add Auston Trusty now to that list too. Trusty stood on the shoulders of giants that night becoming a giant himself, writing history in Bergamo. Trusty also stood up & did this after Dortmund, and the bravery, leadership, and skill he showed that night was immense. Played very well consistently as well throughout the campaign.

Nicolas Kuhn, 8.5 : Was excellent across the whole campaign. A special note for his performance versus Red Bull Leipzig – that was a vintage performance - the skill he showed throughout that night was phenomenal, & that really was a world-class wing performance. On that night Kuhn was up there with the very best wingers in the world. That was the attacking display of the group that from Kuhn that night - Kuhn was like Jinky Johnstone on the hallowed turf of Celtic Park! That night against RB Leipzig was the atmosphere of the group stage, and Kuhn was such an entertainer & he was the inspiration for that! Very good throughout the campaign as well, especially also at home to Slovan Bratislava when he was superb in the historic 5:1 triumph – Celtic’s biggest win the Champions League.

Liam Scales, Arne Engels, Alex Valle, 8.25 : All contributed excellent goals & assists throughout the campaign, and they were fantastic in the team’s engine room. All 3 showed fantastic skill & outstanding fitness. They were crucial in key moments – tremendous players!

Kyogo Furuhashi, Cameron Carter Vickers, 8 : Big players with big personalities who were brilliant in key moments. CCV has of course been a colossus for Celtic, and he showed outstanding character to step up & do this in the Champions League too! CCV is the best Celtic centre-back of the modern era, & few can disagree with that. Kyogo of course unexpectedly set off into the sunset after this amazing achievement, which left many of us with a lump in our throats & a tear in our eye like pure cinema – Kyogo may have left, but he is now forever ‘The Prince of Parkhead!’...

Greg Taylor, Paulo Bernardo, 7.75 : Excellent displays & did themselves proud – campaigns of the utmost class & professionalism!

Luke McCowan, Hyun-Jun Yang, James Forrest, Anthony Ralston, 7.5 : Steadied the ship at important times & professional displays at the top level of the game. Did themselves proud.

Luis Palma, Dane Murray, Daniel Cummings, 7 : All came on & worked very hard and gave very good accounts of themselves, becoming part of this superb & historic achievement for the club.

Let’s hope we can have one more special performance vs Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich in the knockout stages. Let’s be realistic though about the scale of the Mount Everest we have in front of us against Bayern – if we were to beat Bayern, it would be the best team we would have beaten in the European Cup Champions League since beating Leeds United in the European Cup semi-final in April 1970. That is how difficult this challenge is…

Nonetheless what an occasion to be part of later this month – I guess the only upside is that if the team can reach the level where we can beat Bayern, then we earn the right to legitimately believe that it will put us onto the crest of a wave & give us the momentum to win it! That is how tough the challenge is, but what an "opportunity" at the same time... Let’s just hope we can do ourselves proud, because if we are even competitive, then it springboards us for the end of the domestic season, & we earn the right to believe that next season we can go a deep run in the competition or the Europa League…

We finally have to take off our hats to Brendan Rodgers for masterminding all of this epic & historic theatre in Europe in 24/25 - Rodgers has transcended into Celtic Royalty in the Club’s history with this amazing achievement in the Champions League this year! Let’s hope Rodgers can outfox Kompany in the next round, and mastermind what would arguably be the second greatest European win in Celtic history after Inter in 1967…

Awards summary: • Player of the Group Stage, Adam Idah; • Goal of the Group Stage, Daizen Maeda vs Club Brugges; • Overall Performance of the Group Stage, Callum McGregor vs RB Leipzig; • Defensive Display of the Group Stage, Auston Trusty vs Atalanta; • Attacking Display of the Group Stage, Nicolas Kuhn vs RB Leipzig; • Save of the Group Stage, Kasper Schmeichel vs Young Boys of Berne; • Pass of the Group Stage, Reo Hatate vs Young Boys of Berne; • Tackle of the group stage, Alistair Johnston vs Aston Villa; and • Atmosphere of the Group Stage, Celtic vs RB Leipzig.