Celtic start their 2024/25 Champions League marketing campaign in Glasgow on Wednesday night time as they welcome competitors novices Slovan Bratislava to Celtic Park.
The Scots absolutely have to be welcoming the arrival of a ‘Swiss mannequin’ league section format having endured a pair of nightmare group stage campaigns in recent times, and so they’ve received an excellent likelihood of beginning their competitors with a victory on Gameweek 1.
Celtic impressed in opposition to a few of Europe’s huge boys in pre-season, and their summer time kind has permeated into the brand new season. Brendan Rodgers’ facet have already emphatically gained an Previous Agency Derby and at the moment sit atop the Scottish Premiership by way of 5 video games with a 100% document.
They’re taking up a Slovan facet that needed to work extremely laborious to earn their maiden Champions League berth. The Slovakian champions bypassed Struga, Celje, APOEL, and Midtjylland to qualify for the league section and had been the one crew to enter the draw having began their journey from the primary qualifying spherical again in mid-July.
The guests as soon as once more lead the Slovakian high tier, however they oddly suffered a 5-0 house defeat to second-place MSK Zilina earlier than the September break.
Here is 90min’s preview of Wednesday’s Champions League conflict.
Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava H2H Document
Present kind (all competitions)
Celtic | Slovan Bratislava |
|---|---|
Celtic 2-0 Hearts – 14/09/24 | Dunajska 1-2 Slovan Bratislava – 14/09/24 |
Celtic 3-0 Rangers – 01/09/24 | AC Nitra 0-5 Slovan Bratislava – 10/09/24 |
St. Mirren 0-3 Celtic – 25/08/24 | Slovan Bratislava 0-5 MSK Zilina – 01/09/24 |
Celtic 3-1 Hibernian – 18/08/24 | Slovan Bratislava 3-2 Midtjylland – 28/08/24 |
Hibernian 1-2 Celtic – 11/08/24 | Banska Bystrica 0-2 Slovan Bratislava – 25/08/24 |
Nation | TV channel/reside stream |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | discovery+, discovery+ App, TNT Sports activities 2 |
United States | Paramount+, ViX |
Canada | DAZN |
Rodgers has few harm issues heading into Celtic’s Champions League curtain-raiser, with Maik Nawrocki the one participant prone to miss out. He is at the moment nursing a calf harm.
The Celtic boss has opted for the same beginning XI in current outings, and there are unlikely to be many – if any – modifications from the crew that topped Hearts on the weekend.
Summer season arrival Arne Engels scored from the spot on his full Celtic debut and will preserve his place in midfield, whereas Luke McCowan is pushing for a beginning berth after coming off the bench to attain on the weekend.
Celtic predicted lineup vs Slovan Bratislava (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda.
The guests are additionally wholesome coming into Wednesday’s fixture, with their sole absentee prone to be Lukas Pauschek, who’s coping with a shoulder harm sustained final month.
Armenian sharp-shooter Tigran Barseghyan is the hazard man for Celtic to be cautious of, with the ahead coming into the competition having already scored ten occasions in all competitions this time period.
Slovan even have veteran Slovakian internationals Vladimir Weiss and Juraj Kucka at their disposal. Former Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer can also be set for a begin in midweek.
Slovan Bratislava predicted lineup vs Celtic (4-3-3): Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer; Szoke, Kucka, Tolic; Barseghyan, Strelec, Weiss.
Wins have been ever so laborious to return by for Celtic within the Champions League as of late, however they’re poised to take pleasure in a memorable night on Wednesday.
The guests are a tough and rugged outfit which were by way of the wars to merely qualify for the league section, and they won’t make life straightforward for the hosts on this one. They will match the power of a raucous Celtic Park and won’t stop.
Nonetheless, there’s one thing about these Rodgers-led Hoops which suggests they’re manufactured from sterner stuff. Celtic have been blessed with a reasonably sort league section draw, and so they have all the arrogance on this planet heading into Wednesday’s bout. It is time for them to safe a uncommon continental triumph.
