AEK ATHENS have suffered another major injury blow with the news that their influential captain Petros Mantalos has failed a fitness test and will not travelled to Glasgow.
The Athens based Sports Journalist Dimitris Vergos has been tweeting ahead of Wednesday’s match and provides an insight into the AEK Athens squad.
Finally #AEK captain Petros Mantalos did not pass fit and stays out of the squad to face #Celtic in Glasgow. Boye likely to replace him in the starting line-up https://t.co/0UE3TXOijC
— Dimitris Vergos (@dimitrisvergos) August 6, 2018
He also confirmed that star striker Chygrynskiy is out of both games against Celtic due to a muscular injury picked up in a friendly game in July.
Dimitris also gave his opinion on how AEK Athens’ approach will change due to these players being unavailable and also some key players from last season, such as Araujo and Vranjes, leaving.
“The style will definitely change. It will be more attacking-minded because last season was based on the defense. But this depends on where and against whom they play. They have brought in some promising players to replace them so it remains to be seen.”
While the Greek Champions may look to be more offensive for the new season, they are likely to sit in and restrict Celtic to as few opportunities as possible.
The winners of the tie will face either Swedish Champions Malmo or Vidi from Hungary in the fourth play-off round.
In 1966-67 Celtic played eight games to get to the European Cup Final. In 2018 we need to play 8 games to get to the Group Stages of the Champions League.
Here is the AEK Athens squad that is travelling to Glasgow for Wednesday’s match at Celtic Park.
