Idah hails Celtic Champions League campaign after Villa defeat

Adam Idah reckons Celtic have been “fantastic” across the league phase of the Champions League and is relishing the chance to play some of the biggest teams in Europe.

Brendan Rodgers’ side suffered a 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Wednesday, but had previously sealed qualification to the knockout rounds after beating Young Boys.

Celtic were hit with a double jab from Villa star Morgan Rogers, going two nil down inside five minutes in their final league phase game.

Idah hit back with a double of his own to level the game at half time, before Ollie Watkins gave the home side the lead and another strike from Rogers in injury time sealed a win for Unai Emery’s men.

The Hoops, who are in Champions League knockout football for the first time since 2012, will play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the next round.

The Irishman reckons it’s been a campaign to remember so far and says he is relishing the chance to play some of Europe’s biggest teams next.

He said: “I hadn’t scored in a couple of games but that is going to happen in my career. It’s not the end of the world to me.

“In this day and age being a striker is not just goals its everything you need to do.

“Of course its a bonus to get the goals. If I keep working hard, the goals will come.

“Even with the result tonight – we did well and we’re going to be playing against the top teams in Europe and that’s the level we all want to be at.”

He added on Celtic TV: “I think we have been fantastic, if you’d have said at the start we’d be here, we’d have taken it all day, we’ve done better.

“We have a lot of belief and confidence in ourselves to go as far as we can. We are very excited for the next couple of games and hopefully we can do well.”