Ex-Celtic striker Chris Sutton has criticised Manchester United and Arsenal for their performances in the Champions League this week.

Scottish clubs are often pilloried for their bad results in Europe but Sutton claims English Premier League teams often get away with performing poorly even when they spend huge sums of money:

£Scottish teams get bashed from down south in European competitions and sometimes deservedly so. But just imagine if Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen had the luxury of spending over £300 million assembling a squad and performing like Manchester United and Arsenal… that’s embarrassing.”

United lost 3-2 at home to Galatasaray on Tuesday night. It was the first time a Turkish club had won on English soil. Meanwhile, the Gunners lost 2-1 to a Lens side who currently sit just one place above the relegation zone in Ligue One.

It’s not a level playing field for clubs like Celtic

As Sutton points out, the amount that Scottish teams invest in the transfer market compared to EPL clubs and others around Europe is tiny.

Yet, they still manage to go toe-to-toe with some of these teams, despite the disparities in finances.

Champions League prize money can help redress the balance

The fact that the Scottish champions can now regularly qualify for the Champions League group stages means there is an influx of cash that can be used to strengthen the playing squad.

Of course, Celtic will never quite have the financial muscle of teams south of the border, due to the sizeable revenue from domestic TV rights but, if they use their additional resources wisely, they can play smart in the transfer market and improve their squad incrementally every year.

Whether that will help the Hoops progress to the knockout rounds of the tournament at some point in the future, we shall have to wait and see.