Celtic will be heading to the Arctic circle in the return leg of their Europa Conference League tie against Bodø/Glimt hoping to retaliate after losing 3-1 at home against the Norwegian champions last week.
Ange Postecoglou’s men have a huge task ahead of them trying to turn the tie around after the Scandinavians produced a fantastic performance at Parkhead, punishing Celtic’s errors and staying resolute defensively throughout. Daizen Maeda’s goal has gave the hoops hope of a comeback and the fact the away goals rule in these competitions is now scrapped will also be advantageous in their pursuit of making it into the hat for for the next round.
With that in mind some might be surprised to learn that according to Norwegian footballing website nrk, Celtic have turned down the opportunity to train at Aspmyra Stadion, Bodø/Glimt’s home ground tomorrow.
The website reports that Celtic had planned to train at the ground, which is fitted with an artificial pitch, but with information arriving that high winds are expected including gusts of up to 45mph as well as sleet showers and potential thunderstorms, Ange Postecoglou has decided against it.
The website explains that Roma also failed to take advantage of the opportunity to train at the stadium in the lead up to their group stage encounter with the Norwegians, which saw Jose Mourinho’s men get beaten 6-1 in one of the shocks of the season. He said: “It’s a strange decision by Celtic. They should have learned from Roma.
“I assume it is an assessment in relation to the sporting benefits of training under the weather conditions that have been forecast. But there is a huge difference in the surface at Celtic Park and Aspmyra. It does not get them acclimatised before the match itself.
“Bodo/Glimt have a good chance of going through. They have a good lead and they showed an impressive calm and security in the game against Celtic at home. They’ll probably only get even more energy from a full Aspmyra.”
When the match eventually kicks off the weather is expected to be bitter, with the wind chill potentially reducing the temperature to -5°c on the pitch. Although the writer here assumes the reason Celtic have forfeited the chance to train on the pitch is because of the weather, I feel like there could be another reason.
What the writer may not understand is that Celtic have a history with artificial surfaces in Scotland. Thankfully Livingston are the only remaining team in the Scottish Premiership to have such a surface but this is only due to both Kilmarnock and Hamilton getting relegated last season. Our experiences of these surfaces aren’t positive.
Over the years Celtic have experienced multiple injuries to players on these pitches. With the injury record we have this season it could be that Ange Postecoglou reckons taking the risk of an extra session on the artificial surface isn’t worth it.
The negatives may outweigh the positives on this one. Yes it would be nice to have time to get used to the pitch before the match but at what cost? Needless injuries when we need all our players as we fight for trophies on three separate fronts? The weather conditions will only make the pitch more treacherous so spending as little time on it as possible may not be a bad choice after all.
Conall McGinty
Info for fans travelling to Bodo:
15min walk from airport to town
No fixed meeting point in town
Beer 89-130 NOK 🍺
Gates open 17:30 local time
Hold back at FT
It’ll be freezing ❄️⛄️🍀 pic.twitter.com/o0lRSTTVhH— Celtic FC SLO (@CelticFCSLO) February 22, 2022
Additional info for Bodo:
Small bags permitted
Bags subject to search
Alcohol, pyro not permittedFlags are ok but large ones likely to cover the entire away section 🍀🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/wHV7kLg8lU
— Celtic FC SLO (@CelticFCSLO) February 22, 2022
