Celtic and Rangers both fail to win a single Champions League group game

Celtic and Rangers both endured miserable Champions League group campaigns after failing to win a single fixture.

For the first time since the 2010/11 campaign, Rangers finally made it to the group stage after getting past Union Saint-Gilloise and PSV Eindhoven in the qualifying rounds.

But last season's Europa League finalists went on to record the worst ever performance of a team in the Champions League.

Placed in Group A alongside Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax, the Glasgow outfit finished rock bottom on zero points with a goal difference of -20.

They equalled the dismal record set by Dinamo Zagreb in 2011 after losing every one of their games and finding the net just twice.

Celtic, meanwhile, only did slightly better in their first Champions League group campaign for five years.

The Scottish champions also didn't win any of their six games in Group F, drawing twice against Shakhtar Donetsk home and away, and only scoring four times.

Their last outing was a 5-1 defeat against defending champions Real Madrid, who scored two of their goals from penalties courtesy of Luka Modric and Rodrygo Goes in the first half, before Marco Asensio, Vinicius Jr and Federico Valverde got in on the act.

Josip Juranovic had the chance to reduce the deficit when the Bhoys were awarded a spot-kick of their own but his effort was saved by Thibaut Courtois.

Courtois was beaten late on in the second half, however, when Jota curled in a stunning consolation free-kick.

This is the first time since 2007 that Celtic and Rangers have been in the group stages of Europe's premier competition but they've not exactly covered themselves in glory.

Scotland currently has two spots available but that could be about to change given the poor displays this term.

A revamp in the tournament means that the nation ranked 11th in the UEFA coefficient will lose a place in 2024/25.

Scotland are currently in eighth in the rankings but have the worst record of the top ten this season and Belgium and Austria are closing in.

Neither Celtic or Rangers will drop into the Europa League after finishing bottom, while Hearts are third in their Europa Conference League group and cannot finish any higher going into their final game

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Celtic, Rangers, Real Madrid, Champions League, Scotland, SPFL

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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