Thursday’s losses for Celtic and Hearts offered further evidence of Scotland’s declining standing in European competition.
Celtic have now suffered three consecutive Europa League defeats, a sharp contrast to their impressive start in the Premiership, where they have dropped only three points.
Their emphatic victory over last season’s runners-up Hearts also underlined the scale of the challenge facing any team hoping to claim the league title.
Celtic visit struggling Hibernian on Sunday. New Easter Road manager Marink Reedijk has lost his opening two matches and is trying to end a six-game winless run in the Premiership that has included only one draw.
Hibernian have been behind for a league-high 49.7% of their playing time this season.
Although Celtic will be frustrated by Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Celta Vigo, Hibernian face the considerably tougher challenge this weekend.
Motherwell are in a similarly difficult position. Five straight defeats have increased the pressure on manager Alfred Johansson following an otherwise encouraging start to the campaign.
Hearts arrive having failed to win in their past four away fixtures, while they have recorded only two victories from 10 matches on the road across all competitions this season.
Despite that poor away form, the Tynecastle club are unbeaten in seven meetings with Motherwell. Three of last season’s four encounters finished level, as did Hearts’ three most recent visits.
The main issue for Wouter Vrancken’s team is how they recover from Sunday’s emphatic loss at Celtic Park and the subsequent 2-0 Conference League defeat away to Trabzonspor.
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