Former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas thinks their focus on domestic competitions had a role in the Hoops crashing out of Europe against FC Copenhagen 

The Sky Sports pundit says there was a level of complacency on show on Thursday night that meant they were always running the risk of falling foul of an upset against their unfancied Danish opponents:

“Celtic are cruising the domestic setup, and it seemed they thought they had done the job against Copenhagen too, who were average. I picked out three players of prominence and Celtic, especially when they got to 1-1, became slack and lazy, leaving themselves exposed.”

“They would not win the competition. That is because they play well for 45 minutes and switch off for the second half. At this level, you get picked off, and easily picked off in the end by an average Copenhagen side, who could not believe their luck. I expected them to get through and they let me down.”

Celtic were certainly way too open at the back at times, with the game having striking parallels with their home defeat to Cluj in a Champions League qualifier back in August.

They have been on a tremendous run since the winter break, and perhaps overconfidence played a role when they needed a result versus Copenhagen.

Considering how average their opponents were (they currently sit nine points off FC Midtjylland at the top of the Danish Super Liga table), there must have been an element of Celtic underestimating them and they will need to refocus quickly when they face St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup tomorrow.