THE odds on Celtic ever winning another European Cup are about as long as Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink’s name. Approaching the 50th anniversary of his old club’s famous triumph in Lisbon, the Dutchman takes stock of the past and analyses the present and sees two vastly different landscapes.
Just over a decade has passed since Vennegoor of Hesselink was part of a PSV Eindhoven side that reached a Champions League semi-final only to fall short to a Milan side who would subsequently lose to Liverpool. A year previously Porto had won the whole thing, beating Monaco in the final.
That was as time when clubs from small to medium-sized nations could still harbour realistic ambitions of going all the way. The identity of those competing for the trophy since Porto’s 2004 success, however, tells its own depressing story – not one club from outside the big four of Spain, Italy, Germany and England has been able to muscle their way in to the final in the subsequent dozen seasons.
Vennegoor of Hesselink is able to view developments with a vested interest while retaining a sense of detached pragmatism. He has rejoined the PSV payroll since retiring four years ago, working behind the scenes to try to improve their standing in both the Dutch and also the international game. He understands the Celtic players and fans’ anguish following their 7-0 thrashing by Barcelona, and the sense of helplessness that accompanies it. And he believes a club, regardless of its status, should always aspire to do better. With that, however, comes the acknowledgement that against the genuine behemoths of the game, sometimes there is nothing for it but to try to simply enjoy the opportunity.
“It can always happen that a club like Celtic can reach the last 16,” he said. “I know how it works because I am with PSV Eindhoven now and last season we qualified from our group and only went out to Atletico Madrid after a penalty shoot-out. So if you have a good base and you get a good draw then you have a chance. In Celtic’s case, they have Barcelona and Manchester City. Borussia Moenchengladbach are a very fit Bundesliga side but City pumped them.
“I saw the group and thought: “just enjoy it”. Celtic needs to enjoy those type of Champions League games, Scotland needs to enjoy those kind of Champions League games. Hopefully they have a little bit of luck or Barcelona and Manchester City have already qualified when they play and then they have to fight for third place with Moenchengladbach. That’s the thing now, that’s the reality.
“We know that the big leagues, the big money - it’s only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. But if you have a good strategy, a good base for working and developing players and get a squad together that can compete with the likes of Atletico Madrid or the likes of Basel.
“I’m not talking about the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich because they are miles ahead. You need to think about getting close to Benfica and that type of club. If you have that, you still have power to compete.”
Vennegoor of Hesselink also thinks that, as hard as it was to accept, Celtic need to try to brush off the thrashing from Barcelona, pointing out that the Catalans could do that to just about anyone.
“I really don’t think it will be hard for the players to get over this because they were up against Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez,” he added. “The other problem Celtic had was that Barcelona had lost at the weekend and they needed to fix that. Celtic, on the other hand, were on a high and maybe there was a loss of focus, I don’t know. Then Barcelona scored early and Celtic missed that penalty. If it had gone to 1-1 then maybe they might have hit the crossbar a couple of times but that didn’t happen, of course. Everything fell into place for them. But Barcelona do that to teams every now and again. Last season they beat Valencia 7-0 and Deportivo La Coruna 8-0.
“The reason I think it won’t be too hard for Celtic’s players is that they were playing one of the best teams in the world, who had a perfect night – if they were to lose 5-0 away to Borussia Moenchengladbach - that would be a different story. Of course, 7-0 will hurt but you just hold your hand up and say sorry. No excuses. This would have been a much bigger problem if the game against Rangers last Saturday had been tighter. But the 5-1 win has given them a little bit of credit.”
Jan was speaking at a William Hill media event to promote the draw for tomorrow’s William Hill Ayr Gold Cup.
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