Matt O’Riley insists Celtic are Champions League quality and delivers vow for last two games

Matt O’Riley insists Celtic are “more than capable” at Champions League level and says they will show that in their remaining two games.

The Hoops sit rock bottom of their group with just one, picked up from the home game against Atletico Madrid before going on to be hammered by the same opposition out in Spain. It follows a similar record last season when Ange Postecoglou’s side finished bottom without picking up a win.

They still won some praise for their performances and O’Riley insists they have played well again this time under Brendan Rodgers. He insists the score against Atleti would have been much lower had Daizen Maeda not been sent off, especially as they showed they could match them at home.

With Feyenoord at home and Lazio away to come, the midfielder reckons their quality can shine through.

“We’ve played well in Europe,” he insisted. “Tuesday obviously wasn’t fun for anyone, but Champions League games are always very difficult when you have 10 men on the pitch, naturally.

“And especially against top teams. I think if we had kept 11 it would be a very different game. I know that is hindsight but I genuinely believe that.

“We showed that at home against Atletico for the majority of the game that we were able to go toe-to-toe with them. I don’t think you should ever lose a game 6-0 but at the same time I think we are more than capable of playing at that level. We’ve two games left and we’ve still got a chance so we’ll give it our all.”

The Hoops repeated the Madrid scoreline in reverse against Aberdeen as they scored two early goals before racking up a hammering later on.

O’Riley insists it is always their intention to go an dominate like that, it’s just that sometimes it comes off more than others.

He added: “Our approach is always the same, some days you get a little luckier than others in front of goal. Sometimes an early goal against teams like this – five at the back, who are trying to stop you – it kills their game plan.

“We score one, score two and they have to come out a little bit and that creates a little more space. That ruthlessness is something we can take into Europe as well.”