Chris Sutton was commenting on Celtic’s performance in Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat against Atletico Madrid when he had to shoot down a bizarre theory floated by Kris Boyd against the Parkhead club.
Speaking on the pre-match build-up to Rangers’ trip to Livingston on Sky Sports, both pundits went toe to toe as Boyd asked Sutton if Celtic are not focused on Europe.
Sutton: “It was an embarrassing evening for Celtic. I’ve got to say I didn’t fancy Celtic in any way, shape or form. People will talk about the sending off but there is a bigger picture for Celtic.
“The damage was done earlier on in the season for not being prepared, not making the signings early enough and Celtic really have to sort themselves out in European competition but today is just about getting back to domestic form by winning the game and then sort of re-focusing.”
Boyd: “Chris, do you think Celtic are solely focused on winning domestically and forget about Europe?”
Sutton: “No, I think that is ridiculous for you to say that”.
Boyd: “I’m asking you a question, it wasn’t a statement, I’m asking you a question.”
To be fair to Sutton, it was a very silly question. Do people really think that a manager of Brendan Rodgers’ calibre would have agreed to come back to Celtic if the club told him they were just focused on domestic dominance?
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Absolutely no chance. Rodgers will be desperate to make his mark in Europe for Celtic and right the wrongs during his first tenure as the Celtic manager.
The bare facts of Tuesday’s defeat are simple. Atletico were just too good for Celtic and being reduced to ten men certainly did not help.
And if Boyd was paying attention, Celtic have performed well in all three games prior to the Madrid capitulation.
No wonder Sutton replied the way he did.
In other news, ‘Really harsh’…Kenny Miller still fuming over VAR decision in Celtic match last week