Glasgow clubs Celtic and Rangers are both back in the Champions League for the first time in 15 years. This is good news for football in Scotland. Or? The UEFA millions override competition in the league. A solution is not in sight.
Anyone who has been a guest in Glasgow will carry the experience with them for years to come. At least that's the case for many prominent footballers. During a visit with FC Barcelona at FC Celtic, Lionel Messi felt what he called "the best atmosphere in Europe". His longtime teammate Xavi said he had never experienced anything comparable to the Celtic fans. The Milan icon Paolo Maldini said that every footballer must have played at Celtic Park at least once. After a performance with Manchester United at Rangers at Ibrox Stadium, Gary Neville described the "loudest atmosphere I've experienced" and marveled that even the people in the VIP boxes were jumping around like normal fans. Last season Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig were powerless against the force of Ibrox in the Europa League.
The atmosphere at European games in Glasgow is legendary, whether in the green and white or in the blue part of the city. So it's good news for all football romantics that this season, for the first time in 15 years, both Glasgow clubs are taking part in the Champions League, not just one of them at most. Scotland's champions Celtic will welcome defending champions Real Madrid this Tuesday, and the team led by former England goalkeeper Joe Hart will face Shakhtar Donetsk and Leipzig in the preliminary round. Coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Rangers were drawn against Ajax Amsterdam, SSC Napoli and Liverpool FC.
The unusual Glasgow double in the Champions League also has to do with the upheavals of the present. Celtic benefited from UEFA banning Russian clubs from all competitions. As a result, the 'Bhoys in Green' automatically qualified as champions for the group stage, for the first time since 2017. Runners-up Rangers earned themselves through successful qualifying rounds against a Belgian representative called Union Saint-Gilloise, Union Berlin's Europa League opponents, and gave the internationally renowned PSV Eindhoven the right to start in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time since 2010.
After the "Gers" failed in the Europa League final last season to Kevin Trapp and Eintracht Frankfurt, the entry of both "old firm" clubs into the premier class is the next triumph for Scottish football within a few months, at least at first glance. On the other hand, it is not entirely clear how good the presence of both Glasgow clubs in the Champions League really is for footballing conditions in Scotland. There is debate in the north of Britain that the gap between Celtic and Rangers at the top and the rest of the Scottish Premiership could widen even further than it already is.
Even now the difference is absurd. The last Scottish champions not to come from Glasgow were FC Aberdeen in 1985. The coach was a certain Alex Ferguson, who at the time didn't have the "sir" in front of his name. "The Scottish top flight is as predictable as a boat race between two universities," the Guardian said, referring to the long-term dominance of Celtic and Rangers. Their superiority is also manifested financially. According to the BBC, Celtic spent the equivalent of almost 60 million on salaries in the 2020/2021 season, Rangers around 55 million. Aberdeen had the third-highest personnel budget - with just over ten million euros. According to figures from transfermarkt.de, the Celtic and Rangers squads each have a higher market value than the squads of the remaining ten clubs in the Scottish Premiership combined. The league is entirely dedicated to Glasgow clubs. The mode guarantees that they will play each other four times per season. That's what TV wants. There are also possible duels in the cup.
This season, the two already overpowering clubs are also collecting the significant income from the Champions League by Scottish standards. It is estimated that participation in the group stage for Celtic and Rangers is worth around 30 million euros each. This further cements the dominance of the two clubs and should guarantee that the Scottish champions will continue to come from Glasgow for years and possibly decades to come. Surprises such as St Johnstone FC's cup double (Scottish FA Cup and League Cup) last year are becoming even less likely.
What can be done about the dominance of 'old firm' rivals is an old topic of debate in Scotland and is likely to be the subject of renewed debate in the future. There is speculation that Celtic and Rangers may be relegated to the English Premier League in order to restore competition in the Scottish league. The experiment has no real chance. The Guardian just joked that the Scottish league should simply let the two Glasgow clubs play each other 38 times a season. The Champions League games offer Celtic and Rangers a break from everyday life in the Scottish Premiership. For once they are not favorites.
