FORMER Celtic defender Alan Stubbs has told the BBC that Celtic only have only ONE defender good enough to star in the Champions League.
After a dreadful start to the second half against Astana on Tuesday Celtic conceded 3 additional goals to add to the unfortunate own goal conceded before the break. However Scotty Sinclair had sent the Hoops in level and two late strikes by Ntcham and Griffiths gave Celtic an aggregate win of 8-4.
But Stubbs, who played for the Parkhead side between 1996-2001, isn’t convinced about the defending, even allowing for the fact that Celtic had essentially to midfielders converted to central defenders playing on Tuesday due to injuries.
“The only top-class defender they’ve got is Tierney,” Stubbs stated.
“Domestically, Sviatchenko, Boyata, Simunovic are competent, but the Champions League is a whole new ball game.
“You need to allow Tierney to go forward, and that puts extra pressure on the two centre-backs and the opposite full-back. That’s where the problem lies within.
“But the mindset has changed now, people are potentially looking for Celtic to progress, to see whether that’s a measure of Brendan improving in Europe, and to do that, I don’t think they’re good enough, apart from Tierney. I really don’t.
“That’s the biggest area of the team when they go to the Champions League they need to improve.”
While Eric Sviatchenko looks likely to be sold if a fee can be agreed with Copenhagen, Rodgers seems happy enough to go into the group stages with Boyata and Simunovic as his central defence partnership.
The Champions League draw will be made in Monaco at 5pm today, Celtic Park time.
