Are Scots ‘navel-gazing’ or are things that bad in Europe?

A well-known adaptation of the The Simpsons meme “Won’t somebody please think of the coefficient” was used on Thursday when Shakhtar Donetsk came from behind to defeat Aberdeen. stung into the hearts of Scottish football supporters.

You’ll cry if you don’t laugh, though.

Sporting Braga bamboozled Celtic, Rangers lost to Sturm Graz, and Aberdeen took the lead at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Scottish football has been hampered in Europe for the first time this season thanks to three negative outcomes that were captured on the same night.

The only difference this week was that all three teams were in divisions that had been relegated to.

Celtic and Rangers have shown they are miles away from the top of the Champions League, but Aberdeen did show signs of improvement when they kicked off their Conference League campaign with a stingy 3-2 defeat to the Ukrainians.

Was Europe’s attention really on our three representatives on a night when Roma lost to Lille and Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest lost to Midtjylland and Roma had three penalties saved at home?

It’s reasonable to assume that few people would have been aware of the earlier blow Sporting Braga’s defeat of Celtic. Without the much-discussed disallowed goal, which would have allowed the hosts to leveller, is this also true.

Many people on the continent are captivated by the “tradition and atmosphere” that characterize Scottish clubs, as German commentator Derek Rae pointed out.

If Celtic hadn’t been keeping up with the most recent fan protest developments, a far-from-full park will have surprised a few people, as will their home defeat, because many still associate Celtic with their “fortress” in Glasgow’s east end. Even if it hasn’t been recently.

When I speak with German colleagues, they always give me goosebumps when they visit a Scottish stadium, especially Celtic or Rangers, Rae said.

“They leave believing this is a real football country when they visit these venues.”

In the 36-team league phase, Celtic sits 28th and Rangers 32nd after matchday two of the second-tier competition. Both places are automatic eliminations.

Given Celtic’s gutsy performance against Bayern Munich in the Champions League play-off in February, despite their eventual narrow defeat, many European expectations have been met this season. Rangers have also been regulars throughout the Europa League season, with the highlight of the year, obviously being the 2022 final.

The overriding recent feeling of regression has been attributed to Thursday’s results.

Do others, however, see it differently?

Rae once said, “The perception is not as dramatically great or bad as we Scots might think.”

We are Scots, and we do occasionally like to be overly critical of our own football, which is right.

However, I don’t know that there is a perception that “oh my goodness, Scottish football is so much worse than it was three or four years ago” in other parts of Europe.

Rae added that John McGinn’s Aston Villa team’s recent success in recruiting international players from non-Scottish clubs could influence how people view our game, highlighting yet another magical night.

Cold, hard coefficient points are the main component of the equation, aside from cold, hard cash.

These are the factors that determine where your nation is in the rankings, and they also determine how many European spots you will be able to get and where you can get them.

As of right now, Scotland is 40th in the table in terms of coefficient points earned this year. That places them 18th overall, five seasons’ worth, behind Cyprus, who are currently ranked 18th.

Scottish clubs would start their worst campaigns since 2012 if standing of the country couldn’t be improved to 14th.

In two years, representation would drop from five to four clubs.

Future champions would receive three Champions League qualifiers instead of just one, runners-up would receive three Conference League qualifiers, and third-place finishers would receive three, as well as Scottish Cup winners would receive four Europa League qualifiers instead of just one.

The elimination of the top 12 already leaves the Scottish Cup winners with the chance to enter the third qualifying round of the Europa League rather than the play-offs and not be guaranteed group stage football.

Instead of the same stage as the Europa League, the team that finished third in the Premiership will enter the Conference League in the second qualifying round.