Celtic fought hard in the Battle of Britain as Aston Villa came out on top in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

It has been an eventful week for Celtic, from beating Young Boys and securing a play-off spot, Kyogo Furuhashi leaving, Jota re-joining and the postponed Dundee game over the weekend.

It’s all been happening in Glasgow, but this trip to Villa Park was the main event and the closing event for the Champions League group phase.

Brendan Rodgers’ side had an outside chance of securing a top-eight finish, but even with a big win, it was highly unlikely to happen, simply because of the volume of teams ahead.

Then, five minutes into the game, Villa were 2-0 ahead and the Celtic faithful were fearing the worst, before Adam Idah’s brace levelled the scores in a thrilling opening 45 minutes of action.

The home side’s added quality then showed because Aston Villa would beat Celtic 4-2, but you can’t argue that the Bhoys battled, and fought hard, as there were many impressive signs.

Would Celtic be able to compete in the Premier League after Aston Villa showing?

Scottish football always takes verbal hits in England and the huge gap between both leagues is talked about.

Of course, the enormous financial gulf plays the main part behind that, but Gabby Agbonlahor was impressed by what he saw from Celtic, as he told talkSPORT.

The former Villa striker thinks Celtic could go down to the Premier League – dubbed the best in the world – and ‘cope’ against the elite teams.

“What a game and what an atmosphere,” said Agbonlahor. “That’s what it is all about, football. I was worried for Celtic after five minutes.

“But I felt Celtic really dug in and really settled after the second goal. They started to be the better team. Got back to 2-2. Fair play to them.

“But when you are talking about the differences in squads and the difference in quality. Villa were always going to get the win. I was watching at the end, Brendan Rodgers and the players clap the fans. I thought ‘them fans must be proud of that team’. You have come up against a Premier League side. We talk about it for years. Would Celtic cope in the Premier League? After that performance last night, I think they would.”

 

Gabby Agbonlahor impressed by Nicolas Kuhn’s Champions League display

Nicolas Kuhn has been Celtic’s best player this season and he would have been keen to further impress against an elite opposition.

Agbonlahor certainly loved what he saw from the German and how he was ‘outstanding’ on the right flank, as he added on talkSPORT.

Lucas Digne is Villa’s starting left-back and one of his side’s most consistent performances, but Kuhn did very well to keep him on his toes.

“Very, very good,” responded Agbonlahor on Celtic’s goals. “Do you know who I was impressed with? I thought Kasper Schmeichel kept the score down. It could have been 6 or 7-2. If it wasn’t for him. The amount of saves he made from Watkins in the second half. He should have had a hat-trick.

“I thought Kuhn. He is a very good player. He is going to be the one in the next couple of years that teams are looking at because he is an outstanding player.”