Mixed bag record against Belgium opposition, but Celtic strong at Paradise

The Celtic Star

·27 November 2024

Mixed bag record against Belgium opposition, but Celtic strong at Paradise

Our overall record against Belgian sides is a mixed bag but we have a good record at Celtic Park. Hopefully tonight we can maintain that…

Celtic v Club Brugge – UEFA Champions League Nicky Hayen, head coach of Club Brugge pictured during a training session ahead of the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic and Club Brugge on November 26, 2024. Photo Peter De Voecht

As Celtic welcome Club Brugge to Celtic Park we can take encouragement in the fact we have a decent record against Belgian opponents, at Celtic park at least.

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We’ve played Belgian opposition a total of eight times in competitive matches in European football.

Gent v Celtic, September 1984. European Cup Winners Cup. Image The Celtic Wiki

Our first game against Belgian opponents came in the 1984/85 Cup Winners Cup in the shape of KAA Gent, and although we went down 1-0 in Belgium, we comfortably took care of them by beating them 3-0 at Celtic Park thanks to a Frank McGarvey brace and a goal from Paul McStay.

Celtic 2-0 Ekeren, UEFA Cup, September 1991. Image The Celtic Wiki

Charlie Nicholas (extreme left) beats goalkeeper Vandewalle (or Van de Walle) at Parkhead during Celtic v Germinal Ekeren football match (Round One of the UEFA Cup) in September 1991. Celtic beat the Belgian team 2-0. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Our next meeting with Belgian opponents came seven years later in the shape of KFC Germinal Ekeren. A double from Charlie Nicholas gave us a reasonable cushion to travel to Belgium with, and thanks to a cracking Mike Galloway strike we drew 1-1 to advance 3-1 on aggregate.

We would have to wait another 12 years to play opponents from Belgium once again and they arrived in the shape of Anderlecht in the Champions League. Unfortunately we went down 1-0 in Brussels.

We would get our revenge a couple of weeks later in an entertaining night at Celtic Park as Martin O’Neill’s side comfortably beat the Belgians 3-1 thanks to goals from Henrik Larsson, Liam Miller, and Chris Sutton, with all the goals arriving in the first 27 minutes of the game.

14 years later we would play Anderlecht yet again in the same competition, and it produced one of our best results in the group stage of the competition. Goals from Leigh Griffiths, Paddy Roberts and Scott Sinclair seen us stroll to victory as we won 3-0 in Brussels.

The fixture at Celtic Park however saw us fall to a 1-0 loss on a night we put in a dreadful performance, although in the end we did qualify for the Europa League after finishing in third place.

So Celtic have enjoyed four wins and tasted defeat on another four occasions against Belgian opponents. Tonight we have the chance to tip the wins record in our favour and there’s no reason why we can do just that. Especially if we can recreate the form from the last game against RB Leipzig.

The Champions League is never easy, as we know only too well, so nothing can be taken for granted against a team Celtic will feel they have the beating off. Club Brugge will feel exactly the same way.

Maybe the difference will come from the crowd, like it did against the Bundesliga side last month.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

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Mixed bag record against Belgium opposition, but Celtic strong at Paradise | OneFootball