McDonald: Celts won’t give up on Euro dream
The 1-0 loss against Villarreal in Spain on Tuesday night has left the Scottish champions bottom of Group E, with one point from two games, ahead of a daunting double-header against holders Manchester United.
The defeat, inflicted by Marcos Senna’s second-half free-kick strike, extended Celtic’s depressing away record in the Champions League which has now seen them pick up only one point from a possible 48 away from Glasgow in group games.
But Australia international McDonald insists he will not yet settle for a UEFA Cup spot this season.
Asked about the chances of making the last 16 of the Champions League for a third season in succession, McDonald replied: “Not good obviously.
“We are bottom of the table with Aalborg, due to drawing with them at home.
“That’s not good but there are four games remaining, which is a long way to go, and it’s certainly not over.
“We have two games away to Aalborg and Manchester United, although we know going to Old Trafford in the next game is not going to be easy.
“They have their big player back, in Ronaldo, although they have some other excellent players as well. But we will see how we do at Old Trafford.” McDonald started on the bench against Villarreal as manager Strachan went with a 4-5-1 formation spearheaded by Georgios Samaras.
The Greek striker missed a crucial chance just before the break, when he raced through on goal, only to fire his shot straight at goalkeeper Diego Lopez.
McDonald, who has been used sporadically so far by Strachan despite being top scorer in Scotland last season, came on after Celtic had slipped behind. He almost rescued a point late on with a wonderful volley which just cleared the bar but insists the Parkhead side can take heart from their performance.
He said: “For a second I thought it was in but it just didn’t dip enough.
“But there was a lot of encouragement to take from the game, that’s probably the most we’ve created in an away game since I’ve been here.
“I thought the boys were excellent up until the goal and then obviously we had to go and chase the game.
“Villarreal passed the ball well, as we knew they would.
“I had my chance near the end and unfortunately it didn’t go in for us. One of these days it’s going to happen for us, hopefully. Someone will score, an own goal or a 30-yarder.
“But we didn’t get anything again so we have to battle on and try again.”
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