WINTERS in Russia give rise to connotations of inhospitable cold, heaps of snow and terrifying blizzards.
Currently, St Petersburg sits at an eye watering minus fifteen degrees as Celtic prepare for this evening’s clash against Zenit.
However as the roof will be closed tonight and temperatures controlled to around 15 degrees positive, not negative, the adverse weather elsewhere in St Petersburg will not be an issue for Celtic.
What could be a problem though is the rather hot-heated referee. Celtic will be up against as card-happy referee Antonio Mateu takes the whistle for the match. The Spaniard has been criticised for producing a sensational 104 yellow cards in his last 21 matches.
Jozo Simunovic and Olivier Ntcham are just one flash of yellow away from missing the next match, should Celtic overcome the Russians.
Meanwhile, Roberto Mancini has promised the Zenit supporters that his mega-bucks XI will attack Celtic, unlike last week. This means that the Russia onslaught will be constant and concentration is needed from every player until the final whistle sounds. Mancini would do well to recall Anderlecht’s attempt at doing this to Celtic in Brussels last autumn. Tonight is a broadly similar task for Celtic.
Celtic will need to be disciplined and compact in order to break Zenit hearts and progress to the last 16. If Zenit score one or even two goals they are far from safe as a single Celtic goal would mean they need 3 goals. That makes for an uncomfortable evening for the Russians, every time Celtic attack.
The last three visits to Russia for Celtic have been fruitful and Brendan Rodgers must look to these performances: 3-2 vs Spartak, 1-1 vs Spartak and 2-0 vs Dynamo Moscow, for his side’s motivation.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if an away goal is crucial in deciding this tie. Maybe Zenit 2 Celtic 1 on the night?
Written by Lewis Faulds
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Podcast Preview and Review. Yeah, some spoken word about the game below and also an interview with Megan from the Celtic Fc Foundation.
