Celtic’s Champions League Progress Reflects Team Development, Says Carter-Vickers

Centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers stated that Celtic’s promising beginning in the Champions League indicates the team has “grown and matured” within the tournament. In contrast to their two previous European campaigns, where the Glasgow-based club was eliminated after finishing last in their group each time, the Scottish champions have now amassed seven points from four matches in the restructured league phase. They aim to increase this total to 10 when they host Club Brugge on Wednesday. The United States defender mentioned that the squad’s objective was “around” the 10-point threshold, and the team believes “we are close to getting out of the [league] phase.” He further commented, “It’s us against ourselves now to see how many points we can get.” Carter-Vickers added, “You can see how we’ve grown and matured in the competition. It’s not just about learning from this season, it’s about the last couple of seasons and it’s paying off well for us.” According to the centre-back, the significant victory against RB Leipzig earlier in the current month demonstrated to external observers that Celtic possesses the capability to contend at this level. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old also recognized the challenges anticipated in their remaining four fixtures as they strive to secure a spot in the Champions League knockout rounds for the first time in over ten years. “It’ll be a big achievement [to progress],” he stated, adding, “Our goal has been to get to a knockout round.” He concluded, “We feel pretty close to that but know there are four tough games to go.”