Ange Is Right. It’s Time For This Celtic Team To Start Making Its Mark In Europe.

This Celtic side is the most exciting we’ve seen in domestic football in a long, long time and that fills me with enthusiasm and excitement for the rest of this league campaign.

The start we made did not surprise me.

It was what Ange promised when he took over, a team that played blistering football and which would only get better as it developed its style.

A few mishaps aside, we can see that we are fast becoming that side. We will soon be back to our freewheeling high-scoring best. Domestically, at least, I feel nothing but optimism.

What surprised me was the obvious strides we’ve taken in Europe.

We look a much better outfit this season than we did in the last campaign on the European stage.

The team looked comfortable against Madrid until we lost our way after conceding the goal. Against the Donetsk team, in Warsaw, I thought we were exceptional. But we didn’t win.

I am frustrated because of that result, and the frustration grows out of the performance. If we’d been bad a 1-1 draw would have felt like a great result. But that we were so brilliant is what turns it into an opportunity lost, and two points slipped away.

This team is good enough to be on this stage.

We have two massive games against the Germans in which to prove it, and I absolutely believe that we can do so. Ange has made a believer out of me because he himself is 100% convinced of it.

After the weekend, he exhorted this team to rise to that level and meet these expectations. It is time, he said, for this team to leave its mark on the continent and he would not have challenged them so if he did not believe they were capable.

You can see that they are. You can see what this team can produce when on their game. The question is, will we raise it to that level or will this team become the subject of the hard-luck stories and what might have beens?

Because they can be so, so much more. It will soon be time to prove it.